Harry Potter and The Quest For the One Ring
by WickedHobbitoftheWest
Summary: Harry,Ron,Hermione,and Malfoy have been accidently transported to Middle-Earth. Saruman is after Harry he wants him in order to help him take control of Middle-Earth.Someone has been kidnapped and being taken to...
1.

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Author's Note: Hello everyone. Ok, here is what happened to The Promises, you know my other fanfic well I got bored of it and it really wasn't going anywhere and well….. Let's just say I like crossovers more! Hehehe! Ok just to let you know this fanfic takes place in Harry's third year at Hogwarts. Hehehe the first chapter hopefully will grab your attention, hopefully.

D/N: I don't own anything! As everyone already knows! And the only thing I wished I owned was: Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd, Sean Biggerstaff ( you know Oliver Wood) and ……… did I mention Elijah? ;)

Ch. 1 "Safety Precautions"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way up the big, stone steps at the entrance of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. It was the beginning of Harry's third year at Hogwarts. Many things had already happened before the start of term. For starters, Harry had learned that a murderer called Sirius Black was after him. He had just escaped from the wizard prison, Azkaban. But Harry was really not scared of the fact that a murderer was out to get him. No, he was more scared of the dementor that he had met on the Hogwarts Express earlier. The encounter was still on his mind. 

On entering the Entrance Hall he heard a familiar voice call over a sea of heads. " Harry Potter, may I see you for a moment!" 

Harry recognized it as the voice of Professor McGonagall. Harry exchanged confused looks with Ron and Hermione. He made his way through the crowd to where Professor McGonagall was standing. He looked up at her, wondering what he had done now. 

"Yes, Professor."

"Come with me, please. And don't give me that look, Potter, you are not in trouble. Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger please go to the Great Hall the sorting will start in any moment. We will be there shortly." 

Ron and Hermione waved Harry good bye and joined the crowd heading for the Great Hall. Harry watched them leave. He then looked back up at Professor McGonagall. She looked very grave and like she had something on her mind. She looked down at him in a sympathetic way. Harry wondered if she had gotten word of what happened in the train with the dementor. 

"Follow me, Harry."

Harry followed Professor McGonagall up the stairs and they took the familiar route to Professor Dumbledore's office. Harry was beginning to wonder if they were going to tell him that he would have to have a body guard with him at all times. Or maybe he had to return to the Dursleys. Or maybe they had captured Black! 

They reached the stone gargoyle.

"Gummi Worms", said Professor McGonagall and the gargoyle came to life and jumped aside. They ascended a spiral staircase that took them to Professor Dumbledore's office. They reached two big, wooden doors. Professor McGonagall knocked on the door.

"Enter, Professor", said a voice from inside.

Professor McGonagall opened the door and led Harry inside. Harry had been inside Dumbledore's office before. He looked around and saw Fawkes, the phoniex, in a corner on a bird stand, unlike last time, Fawkes had all his feathers. He called at him happily. Harry smiled and waved. He then turned his glance to Dumbledore's desk. It was empty. Harry walked further in. The walls were lined with bookshelves jammed pack full of books of all sizes. There was a globe of the world on the other side of the room from where Fawkes was. Professor McGonagall led Harry to one of the two chairs in front of the huge desk. 

"Make yourself comfortable, Harry", said a voice from behind him. 

Harry turned around quickly to see Professor Dumbledore walking toward his desk his nose buried in a very heavy looking book. He walked around his desk and set the book down. He sat down in his chair and looked at Harry with a smile and a twinkle in his eye. Harry smiled back. 

"Would you wish to tell him, Minerva?"asked Dumbledore looking at Professor McGonagall.

"Might as well", she answered. She walked toward Harry and sat down in the chair next to him. Her face was kind and gentle, an expression that she rarely showed on her strict face.

"Harry, this may be very shocking for you, but you must know. You must have already heard about Sirius Black and how he escaped from Azkaban-"

"I already know that he is out to get me, Professor", interrupted Harry looking at Dumbledore in his desk from the corner of his eye.

"Oh well then, the easy part is over." 

Harry stared at Professor McGonagall's suprised face. Easy part? What was going on?

"Harry, now that you know about Black then you must understand our concern for your safety", said Dumbledore getting up from his chair and walking over to his bookshelve. He pulled out three, thick looking books.

Harry stared at them curiously.

" Tell me Harry do you know the difference between fiction and non-fiction?" asked Dumbledore very seriously as he returned to his desk.

"Yes", answered Harry stunned by the question.

"What is the difference can you tell me?"

"Well, fiction is not true and non-fiction is true, like it actually happened", Harry replied.

"Very good, you are correct. But did you know that somethings that people say are fiction are actually non-fiction?" 

"Huh?"

"Let me put it this way, Harry. Do Muggles tell you that there is no such thing as wizards or witches or magic?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes."

" But look around you, are they right?"

"No", replied Harry, wondering where this was going.

"Well, Harry some of these books that people have written are said to be fiction, but the worlds that they create are as real as the glasses that rest on the tip of your very nose."

Harry was speechless. He didn't know what to say.

"So places like the ones in the Wizard of Oz are real !?"

"Well, not the land of Oz, but another place is real", said Dumbledore picking up one of the three books he had gotten a little earlier.

"Harry have you ever read this book?" asked Dumbledore handing the book to him.

Harry took it. It was green and had a picture of black, hooded riders being what seemed drowned by a giant wave. In front of that was what seemed to be a kid on a horse. He looked at the title The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkein. 

"No."

"Well, Harry it so happens that my cousin lives in that world."

Harry stared wide eyed. How could that be? Dumbledore had a cousin? Who knew?

"Well, actually, he is my second cousin, once removed on his mother's side. His name is Saruman." said Dumbledore correcting himself.

Harry blinked.

"Well to come to the point, Harry, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, and I had a little chat. You see we were very worried about your safety and didn't know what to do. So I told him about my cousin who lived in Middle-Earth, the place in this book, and he thought it was a great idea for us to send you to Middle-Earth until Black was caught. And you don't need to worry about your studies Harry we will manage it later on. You won't need to do homework while you are there. Think of it as an educational trip. My cousin will teach you about the ways in Middle-Earth and the different creatures that lives there. Oh don't worry he will explain everything. He already knows you will be arriving. In fact, you will be leaving in about an hour from now. You are probably wondering how you are going to get there. Well, by Floo Powder of course. You won't be able to take Hedwig or your Nimbus Two-Thousand, but you can take a pack with some extra robes. You are allowed, though, to take your wand. And as soon as they capture Sirius Black you will be able to return. There I suppose I have answered all your questions."

Harry was left stunned and speechless. He didn't know what to say. It was happening way too fast. 

"Um, one question, Professor can I take a friend or two?" he asked the only question that came to his mind.

"No, Harry I am afraid not."

"Oh, ok."

"You are alright with this are you?"

"Of course, it is for my own safety."

"Good, I knew you would cooperate."

*~*~*~*~ *

_Later on...._

"What!" yelled Ron looking as though Harry had just told him that his older brother was Voldemort. Harry, Ron and Hermione were in the Gryffindor Common Room and Harry had just finished telling them that they were sending him away.

"Like I just said I am going to have to leave for this place called Middle-Earth, that exists only in this huge book called Lord of the Rings." said Harry looking at him and Hermione. 

"But Harry how can you go?" asked Hermione looking horrified at the thought.

"I am going to get there by Floo Powder", replied Harry.

"No, but do you actually want to go?" asked Hermione looking at Harry gravely.

"I don't know I sort of do and I sort of don't".

"But you are going to go all by yourself, right? And who knows how long you are going to be there." said Ron looking like he was going to be sick.

"Oh come on Ron, it is for Harry's own good and he must be very excited to go, I know I would. Studying other cultures and seeing new worlds sounds fascinating." said Hermione her eyes shining longingly.

"Yeah, but I won't be able to hang around ya'll", said Harry sadly, " that is what I don't like".

"Oh go on Harry, don't worry we'll be fine besides you will be getting a free vacation", said Ron.

"Yeah, I guess, but I'll miss you guys", replied Harry.

"We will miss you too, Harry", said Hermione softly her voice cracking. She was getting red-eyed and looked like she was going to cry.

"You better go it has almost been an hour", said Ron sniffing. 

"Yeah", said Harry.

"Do you think we can come and say goodbye to you?" asked Hermione trying hard not to cry.

" I am sure you guys can".

They all made their way through the portrait hole. They went down the stairs heading for Professor McGonagall's office. When they got there they saw the back of three familiar heads, looking through the window of Professor McGonagall's office.

"Oh no, what are you doing here?" groaned Ron looking as the three boys turned around. They were, of course, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.

"We were just trying to see which student is getting expelled from school", replied Draco Malfoy.

"No one is getting expelled from school", said Ron irritated.

"Really then why are both Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore doing in McGonagall's office with a trunk?"

"They have my trunk? Snape's here?" exclaimed Harry going over to the window to look.

"You are the one that is getting expelled, Potter!" exclaimed Malfoy looking disgustingly surprised.

"No he isn't!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Then where is he going?" asked Malfoy.

"Inside, unless you wish to delay us longer, Mr. Malfoy?" said Professor McGonagall stepping out of her office. Malfoy shut his mouth instantly and he, Crabbe and Goyle walked away. Professor McGonagall watched them leave and then let Harry, Ron, and Hermione in.

"We have been waiting for you, Potter", said Snape looking at Harry.

"I am sorry Professor", said Harry addressing Dumbledore, " I was saying good-bye to my friends".

"Don't worry about it, Harry. You won't be taking your trunk with you but you can take some clothes with you in a small pack and anything else that you wished. That was why I brought your trunk up here." said Dumbledore.

After he was packed with 3 different outfits, and a bunch of Chocalate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Harry was ready to go. He hugged Hermione and Ron good-bye and said farewell to his professors. HE was just about to take some Floo Powder when Hermione broke out in sobs. 

"Don't cry, Hermione I can't leave you crying", he said.

" I can't help it Harry, what if they never catch Black? Will you stay there forever?" she sobbed.

Professor McGonagall held Hermione close and began to console her. Harry smiled and looked over at Ron. He too looked like he was going to cry, but he held it in. Harry then looked past the teachers and saw Malfoy watching from the doorway. 

"Have you come to say good-bye to Harry?" asked Professor Dumbledore spotting him.

"Uh-" 

"Come in then", said Dumbledore.

Malfoy came slowly in. He reached where Harry was standing. Hermione was standing close to Ron. Suddenly out of no where Peeves came into with a loud bang causing Snape to drop the Floo Powder.

"Peeves!" he screamed.

Peeves cackled and flew away. 

"Go on Harry", said Dumbledore.

Harry walked up to the chimeney and threw the Floo Powder in. He closed his eyes and yelled," Middle-Earth!" Immediately he felt air rush around him and then something else. Something that sounded like someone yelling "NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" He heard other screams behind him. What was going on? Then he rolled out of another chimeney with a plump. He didn't get anytime to look around him for he was hit from behind three times. Smoke came out of the chimeney and he couldn't see a thing. When the smoke cleared he could see a very tall man with a long grey beard. Beside him was a very small man with pointy ears. They were both staring at him.....

A.N.: So what do you guys think? I know it is a bit long, but the first chapters almost always are more Lotr coming up on the next chapter. Please R&R!!!!!!!! That would be very nice of you!!!!!!!!!! Thanks!


	2. Explanations

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D/N: I don't own anything! Except for my creativity! J 

Author's Note: Ok, first week of school is finally almost over I like to thank my reviewers you were all very kind! And now the second chapter of my fanfic shall begin. K I'll shut up now cuz I am pretty sure the majority of you people don't even read the author's note. Seriously! 

Ch. 2 Explanations

Harry coughed and he fixed his glasses and set them on his nose. They had been dangling from one ear. The old man with the gray beard reminded him strongly of Merlin from Disney's The Sword and the Stone. Harry tried to get up but then realized he couldn't. There was something heavy on top of him. He heard groans above him. 

"What the heck happened?" groaned a voice.

Harry froze. Uh-oh. He quickly scrambled out from under the pile and looked down to see what he had dreaded to see. Lying one on top of the other was Ron, Hermione, and to his great sorrow, Malfoy. 

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Harry helping Hermione up. 

"Huh?" asked Ron getting to his feet then he stopped dead. He had just realized where he was.

"Who are you and how did you get inside my fireplace?" asked the little old man with pointy ears.

"My name is Harry Potter, I am a student of Albus Dumbledore from Great Britain. I am here to see his cousin,Saruman." said Harry trying to hold Hermione steady. She looked like she was going to faint.

"Saruman?" asked the Merlin-look-alike. "Saruman the White, the head of the wizard's council?"

"I guess how many Sarumans can there be?" asked Harry.

"Blimey! Look at him he is practically the size of my house elf!" exclaimed Malfoy pointing at the little old man.

"I beg your pardon? Me the size of an elf? Outrageous!" said the little man.

"I am a hobbit, thank you very much!"

"A habit?" asked Ron looking confused.

"No, a hobbit! Here do you want me to spell it out for you?" asked the little man furiously.

Harry was about to ask where they were when suddenly Hermione began to stammer. 

"Hermione are you ok?" asked Harry.

She stammered some more till………THUMP! 

"She fainted quick someone get some water!" said Ron. 

Malfoy looked down at Hermione and meerly shook his head. The Merlin-look-alike told the little man to do just that. The little man hobbled away grumbling to himself. Harry couldn't catch some of the words, he only heard the words "habit" and "elf". The Merlin-look-alike bent over Hermione examining her. 

"She'll be fine. Now I think Harry Potter that you and I have to have a little talk." said the Merlin-look-alike.

"Alright", answered Harry.

*~*~*~*~*~*~ * 

__

An hour later of explaining and giving names, and about five tea cups ………

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"So, you see Gandalf, the reason I came to Middle-Earth was for me to stay safe from this guy Sirius Black. Ron,Hermione, and Malfoy weren't suppose to have come. By the way, how exactly did you guys come here?" asked Harry.

"I am really not sure, I think that when Peeves came flying through the wall and scared Professor Snape all the Floo Powder fell on us and then somehow we were transported here with you." answered Hermione. She had recovered from her little faint.

"Yes, but Floo Powder never works that way, I wonder why it did this time?" said Ron who was chewing on a piece of bread. 

"Well, what I think is that you all arriving here was no accident", said Gandalf with his pipe in his mouth. 

"What do you mean not an accident!? Of course it had to have been an accident I mean I was sent here by mistake with my worse enemy, Potter here!" exclaimed Malfoy standing up. 

"Calm down, Malfoy it's not like it's the end of the world!" exclaimed Hermione rolling her eyes.

Malfoy stuck out his tongue at her and gave her a dirty look. Hermione ignored him and turned to look over at the elderly hobbit that was bustling around the kitchen. 

"Bilbo, do you need help with something?" she asked. 

"No, not at all, thank you for the offer though, Miss Granger" said Bilbo looking irritated. 

Harry and Ron were both sitting down at one end of the table with Gandalf and Hermione sitting opposite them. Malfoy was looking out the window. He was not a happy camper. He turned from the window and looked at Harry.

"Well, Potter you got me into this mess and you will have to get me out of it, he said looking down at Harry.

"It's not my fault that you so happened to be transported to Middle-Earth with me!" exclaimed Harry.

"Stop it both of you," said Hermione, "it's no one's fault it was an accident my guess is that when the Floo Powder was dropped it landed on all of us as well as in the fireplace. Then when Harry yelled Middle-Earth we were all transported with him cuz we too had Floo Powder."

" That makes sense, but why didn't any of the professors get sucked in with us?" asked Ron chewing on some more bread. 

" I don't know what this Flue Powder is, but I do know that I can take you to Saruman, myself." said Gandalf looking from one worried face to the other.

"Really? Thank you so much!" exclaimed Harry happily.

"But what about us we aren't suppose to be here!" exclaimed Malfoy waving his arms in the air. 

" Don't worry I am sure, Saruman will figure a way to take you back to wherever you came from", answered Gandalf.

"How soon can we leave?" asked Hermione.

"Well by the day after tomorrow I would say. Did I mention that tonight is the celebration of Bilbo's 111th birthday?" said Gandalf looking at Bilbo with a wide grin on his face. 

Bilbo smiled and nodded. "Yes it is."

"Wow, 111? You sure look good for your age!" exclaimed Ron.

"Can we come to the party?" asked Harry excited about seeing the rest of the Shire.

"Of course you can and you will be able to meet my nephew, Frodo", answered Bilbo.

Please R&R!!!!!! Thanks and feel free to send me ideas through your reviews! ;)


	3. Frodo the Forgotten

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D/N: I don't own anything!!!!!!!!!!! Except for a cute little dog name Gigi!!!!! Ok yeah and an lotr calendar. Which by the way I am tired at staring at Aragorn's face! K.. 

Author's Note: K if I don't go completely with the book of LOTR please don't sue me! I mean I want to change a couple of things. And besides it makes the story more interesting that way. So yeah. Thank you everyone for reviewing! Thank you all sniff k let the third chapter begin….

CH. 3 

"Gandalf, I'm glad your back", said Frodo getting ready to jump off the cart. 

"So am I, dear boy", answered Gandalf with a smile. Frodo jumped off the cart and waved good-bye to Gandalf. Frodo smiled to himself. It felt good to know that Gandalf had come back. He was dying to know more about what was going on in the outside world. He loved hearing Gandalf's stories especially ones that involved elves. His favorite, though, was Bilbo's tale. 

"Well, there is no chance that I will ever get to have my own adventure," he said to himself. 

He was disappointed to think that he would always remain in the Shire as Mr. Frodo Baggins. The one that lived in Bag End with the mysterious Bilbo Baggins. The one that was almost always forgotten on his birthday. The one that so happened to have his birthday the same day as his uncle. The forgotten one. 

"Even Gandalf forgot to mention anything on the subject of my birthday", thought Frodo. He sadly hung his head. He sighed. 

Frodo was in charge of the party and that everything went right. He whistled merrily and made his way down the hill to the field. There he saw the big banner that read "Happy Birthday Bilbo Baggins" was still in the air. Suddenly it started to wobble. Frodo watched it along with the other many hobbits that were busy working with other things. The sign wobbled some more till it came plummeting to the ground. Frodo watched it fall to the ground and when it came down he flinched. He closed his eyes and shook his head. He wasn't surprised. The young hobbit lad that was in charge of the banner was yelling at some other younger hobbits. 

"Look at what you did! This is not acceptable," yelled Twixt Lightfoot looking down at the hobbit children before him. The little children looked sad and seemed to be at the break of crying.

"Mr. Baggins will certainly not accept of--"

"You yelling at the children like that?" finished Frodo walking up behind Twixt.

He winked at the little hobbit children. Twixt flinched and slowly turned around, a look of horror on his face, to look at Frodo.

"Oh, Mr. B-baggins, I-I di-didn't know you would re-return so s-s-soon," stammered Twixt.

"Yes, well I think I arrived with perfect timing. How can you do something like this, eh? Bossing around the children like you were any older than them." 

"B-but sir, I-I am older than them," replied Twixt.

"Well, you sure don't act like it", answered Frodo impatiently. "Go get some of your little friends together and pick up this banner, NOW!"

"Y-yes sir, Mr. B-baggins, sir", said Twixt saluting to Frodo and running off.

Frodo watched him go. The little children cheered. They all danced around Frodo for a while and then went off to play. Frodo smiled. He was just thinking about the little salute that Twixt had given him when he heard a scream coming from the food tent. Smoke was coming from the tent entrance. 

"Oh no", muttered Frodo as he hurried to the tent. 

Once inside he realized that one of the pans on the stove had caught on fire. He quickly put it out by pouring water on it and placing the top of the pan on top. 

"What are you doing?!" shrieked a female voice.

Frodo turned around and saw a red-faced hobbit lass. She had black hair that reached past her shoulders. She was looking furiously at Frodo. Frodo looked around at the rest of the hobbit lasses that were the cooks. They were all giggling ridiculously. Frodo shrugged.

"I just put out the fire," he said looking at the hobbit lass.

"Fire?" she exclaimed her eyes wide with surprise.

"Yeah, someone obviously left the pan unattended," answered Frodo indicating the pan.

"What! That was my newest recipe! It's suppose to have fire on it like that I was just showing the other girls here about how to do this one dish. Now thanks to you it is a very wet piece of cheese." she said. Her hands were on her hips. 

Frodo was dumbfounded. "But I heard someone scream," was all he managed to say.

"Scream? Oh, that was us celebrating the fact that we had done this dish so PERFECTLY!!!" shrieked the hobbit lass. "Besides who are you that you have the nerve to go around ruining other people's work?" 

A hobbit lass went up to her ear and whispered something. The furious hobbit lass stopped. Her eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth.

"Oh my gosh, Mr. Baggins, I am sooo sorry, I-I didn't realize that it was you who-"

Frodo held up a hand and smiled. "You don't need to apologize. I should be the one apologizing for what I did. What is your name anyways?" 

"Hazel Ashmore from Buckland."

"Oh it is a pleasure to meet you-"

"Mr. Frodo! What are you doing in here?" exclaimed a familiar voice.

Frodo, a little irritated, turned to see Samwise Gamgee at the doorway. He was carrying a bunch of baskets that were full of apples. 

"I am suppose to supervise the party, Sam. It's wonderful to see you too" answered Frodo, looking at Hazel's embarrassed face from the corner of his eyes. She caught her looking at him and smiled. Frodo smiled too. He felt his ears burn.

"Um, Frodo could I ask you a favor. I mean it is wonderful to see you, but I need a favor." said Sam quickly.

"Sure, Sam what is it?" 

"I need you to get the rest of the supplies that I need for tonight."

"Sure what are they?"

"Well, I need one bag of potatoes, two loaves of bread and a barrel of ale," said Sam counting on his fingers. 

Frodo sighed and nodded his head. He bade the lasses good-bye and with one final look at Hazel he left. He hurried to Bag End where he knew that all those things that Sam had asked were there. He grumbled about Sam interrupting him when he was getting to know Hazel. When he came to Bag End he found that the door was locked. He shook it and knocked on the door.

"Blast, today I don't have my keys," said Frodo irritated. 

"Why hello, Frodo you arrived just in time," called Bilbo's voice from behind him.

Frodo turned around to see Biblo coming up the hill with Gandalf in the horse drawn cart that had once carried all of Gandalf's fireworks. But this time instead of fireworks there was four children. Three boys and one girl. The first boy had flaming red hair. The next had blonde hair that was combed very smoothly. The girl had frizzy, brown hair. And the last boy had messy jet-black hair. He was the only one of the group that wore glasses. But what caught Frodo's attention was a peculiar scar on his forehead. It was shaped like a lightning bolt. 

"Frodo, I would like you to meet Ronald Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter," said Bilbo indicating the four children. "They are our guests. They aren't from around here and Gandalf and I were giving them a little tour of the Shire."

Frodo looked stunned. "Pleasure to meet all of you." 

"Oh and they wish to attend tonight's party. They are all very excited, aren't you children?" asked Bilbo looking very happy.

The children nodded. They were all staring at Frodo. Frodo walked closer to the boy called, Harry Potter. He walked up till they were face to face. The boy smiled. Frodo took his finger and parted Harry's bangs. It revealed his lightning bolt shape scar. 

"What is that?" asked Frodo curiously. 

Harry quickly his his scar with his bangs. He looked over at Gandalf and Bilbo.

"Frodo, my lad, I think we need to talk to you about Harry and his friends," said Biblo gravely. 


	4. Party Outfits

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D/N: I don't own anything!!!! Except for my physics book…. Blah!

Author's Note: Sorry, I haven't updated lately. I have one major excuse, SCHOOL!! Oh well sings "I will survive." Hehehe oh and for those of u who have read the Harry Potter books and that have seen the movie or read the LOTR books, please no spoilers! If you put a spoiler in one of your reviews I will remove it. You have been warned. Any questions or advice for me that probably will give a spoiler to the rest you can send it to me by e-mail. Ok thanks! Thank you for your cooperation. 

Ch. 4 "Party Outfits"

Harry stared at his own reflection in the mirror. A boy with messy, jet-black hair, green eyes and big round glasses stared back at him. Harry's mind flickered back to a similar time when he had been staring in the mirror. He smiled to himself. It had happened during his first year at Hogwarts. In one of his little misadventures, in trying to look for a Nicolas Flamel he was almost caught by Professors Snape and Quirrell. In his attempt from not getting caught, he had stumbled into finding a magical mirror. It was the Mirror of Erised. And in that mirror whoever looked in would see what they most desired. So when Harry looked in he saw his reflection standing with his dead parents. He wished he could look into the mirror one last time. He sighed.

"Harry? Harry!?" 

"Huh, what?" exclaimed Harry. 

His thoughts had been interrupted by a very impatient Ron. Ron's eyebrow was raised. 

"What were you doing?" 

"Oh, nothing, Ron. It was nothing."answered Harry. 

Ron seemed to be satisfied with Harry's answer. Harry finished fixing his collar. He didn't necessarily like the material, let alone how it looked on him. Bilbo had said that their Hogwarts uniforms were not "fit" for the party. So instead they were to borrow clothes from Frodo's closet. Earlier on their tour of the Shire, Bilbo had taken Hermione shopping. Hermione had gotten, in her opinion, a rather "cute dress". Harry, Ron, and Malfoy meanwhile were to wear some of Frodo's "party outfits". After Malfoy had seen the outfit that he was to wear he complained loudly. 

"Why must I wear that rag ,when my school uniform fits me quite comfortably. Besides, I don't see you making Gandalf wear anything but that old piece of rag! I mean come on at least mine is clean and new while his looks like it had been buried and then dug up again with all the dirt and maggots on it." 

Gandalf gave him a dangerous look. Malfoy immediately closed his mouth and was quite for the remainder of the time he put on his clothes.

Harry's outfit consisted of brown, itchy pants. He had to wear a very itchy, white cotton shirt with a blue vest. Ron had to wear black pants that were two sizes too small for him. The pants reached to just below his knee. He also had to wear a white cotton shirt similar to Harry's. His vest was an emerald green. Malfoy got to wear gray pants, same shirt except long sleeved and a grey vest. Because he had insulted Gandalf, and Frodo's wardrobe, Bilbo made Malfoy wear suspenders. 

Harry was now ready. Malfoy could still be seen grumbling about the "cheap" clothes. Harry, Ron, and Malfoy were to share a room while they stayed at Bag End. Hermione has her own room, of course. Frodo had his room and Bilbo his. Then there was another room for Gandalf. Bag End was very big. 

Harry moved from the wash room back to the bedroom. His neck was itchy. Ron was feeling a bit uncomfortable in his very small, tight pants. Malfoy was in the wash room. Suddenly, from out of nowhere there was a huge scream. It had come from Hermione's room. Harry and Ron rushed towards her room which was down the corridor. Frodo and Bilbo appeared on the other side. Both wore the same shocked impression. Heavy steps could be heard from behind Frodo and Bilbo as Gandalf joined them. 

"RON!" screamed Hermione from inside her room.

"What?" asked Ron. 

Hermione stepped out from her room. She was wearing the dress Bilbo had bought for her, but her hair was still wet. She was carrying a dangling, squeking Scabbers from his tail. 

"Scabbers! How did you get loose?" exclaimed Ron taking the rat from Hermione. 

"That is exactly what I would want to know", said Hermione. She rolled her eyes. 

" Is that your pet?" asked Bilbo looking at Scabbers with a look of disgust on his face. 

"Um, yes this is Scabbers", said Ron holding the rat up. 

"You never told us you had a pet rat", said Bilbo, obviously not too thrilled of having a rat in his house. 

"Oh, I kinda forgot that he was in my pocket the whole time I was here."

Bilbo nodded and walked away. Frodo shook his head and smiled. He was about to turn and hurry after Bilbo when Malfoy's blonde head popped out from the wash room. This caused everyone to jump, including Gandalf, which resulted in him bumping his head on the ceiling. 

"Oh!"

Malfoy smirked. "What's all the hulla-ba-loo about?"

"Hermione found Ron's pet rat in her room", explained Harry. 

"Oh is that all?"

"And Bilbo wants us to hurry, he doesn't wish to be late," added Frodo. He rolled his eyes. "Well you know Bilbo", he paused and cleared his throat, his voice became raspy and deep " Punctuality is a very important aspect that you must have, Frodo. Better be known as the early one than the late one." Frodo sighed and walked away. Gandalf followed him rubbing the bump on his head. 

"Frodo!" exclaimed Hermione.

Frodo stopped and looked back. Hermione paused and added, " I think you made a wonderful impression of Bilbo."

Frodo looked at Harry from the corner of his eye. He nodded and said "Thanks". He continued on his way. Harry and Ron exchanged looks. They both looked at Hermione. 

"I saw that", said Harry his arms crossed.

"What?" asked Hermione puzzled.

"You like him don't you?"

"No I -"

" Yeah, yeah we know Hermione", teased Harry with a smile.

Hermione looked mad and she closed the door with a bang.

"Yep, she does", said Ron.

Harry turned and stopped. Malfoy had been there the whole time. Harry had forgotten. Malfoy wore the most disgusting grin on his face. 

"Getting jealous, Potter?"

"No!"

"I think you are. I think you're jealous that, Granger likes the shrimp." He snickered and withdrew his head into the wash room. Harry saw that Ron was looking at him. Harry frowned at him. Ron held up his hands and went inside his room. Harry rolled his eyes. Whatever, he wasn't jealous. Or was he?


	5. The LongExpected Party

****

D/N: record machine I don't own anything.

Authors Note: Yeah finally, the Long Expected Party!!! Yeah, this is going to be a long but important chapter sooo bear with me! Remember no spoilers!

Ch. 5 The Long Expected Party

The grandfather clock in the hallway struck five. Bilbo took out his pocket watch for about the hundredth time in two minutes.

"Don't worry about it Bilbo, he'll come", chuckled Gandalf at his friend's anxiety.

Bilbo fidgeted. "We were suppose to have left ten minutes ago."

Finally Frodo came out of the corridor. He was being helped by Ron, to drag Malfoy out from his bedroom. Harry and Hermione were waiting with Gandalf and Bilbo. 

"Come on, Draco the suspenders are not that bad", said Frodo. 

"I am NOT going out in public with these bloody things on!"

"Come on, Malfoy" urged Ron, obviously pleased of how Malfoy was suffering. 

They finally reached the door. With a little help from everyone Malfoy went through the door and they began the descent from Bag End to the field where the party was to be held. Malfoy grumbled the whole way down. Once at the party everyone went their separate ways. Bilbo went off to the entrance to greet his guests and Frodo took the wizards for a look around. Gandalf went to go get ready the fireworks. Frodo introduced them to so many different people that Harry could not keep track. After meeting about practically all the Bolger family, Frodo introduced them to his best friend, Samwise Gamgee. Sam stuck with them for a little while till he was called to see about the food. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy sat down at a nearby table. Frodo had gone off with Sam. 

"So what do you think?" asked Ron.

"It's great", lied Harry.

"I don't think it is so great . I am bored half to death. I mean I don't know about you but watching other shrimps getting drunk and eating is not exactly my definition of entertainment." said Malfoy. 

Hermione was about to protest to Malfoy's comment when Frodo came up to them. Sam had to attend to a small "emergency" in the food tent. 

"So what are ya'll sitting around for?" asked Frodo. At that moment a group of hobbits began to play some music. Everyone gave a joyous cry and began to clap in union with the little bongo like drums. Pairs went on to the "dance floor" and began to dance merrily.

"This party is boring!" exclaimed Malfoy. Hermione hit Malfoy on the head. 

"Ow!"

"Ok, that's all right, Hermione", said Frodo holding up his hands to prevent a second attempt on Malfoy's head. "If he wishes not to make the best of the fact that he is at a party, that's his problem." 

Malfoy crossed his arms and made a dirty face at Hermione. But Hermione wasn't paying attention. Her eyes were on the dancing hobbit pairs who were twirling around everywhere. She sighed. Harry smiled, he knew what Hermione was dreaming about. He looked over at Frodo. Frodo was silent. He was looking at the hobbit pairs as well. He too sighed. 

"I'll be right back", said Ron looking at the food table hungrily. He walked towards it. Malfoy started to make snoring sounds. 

"Hey Frodo do you have anyone that you can dance with?" asked Harry. This question he saw grabbed Hermione's attention, she slowly turned from the dancers and looked at Frodo. Frodo looked like he had come out from a dream. 

"What?"

Harry repeated his question.

"Um… I am afraid I don't quite understand your question?" answered Frodo confused. 

"He is basically asking you if you have anyone special", said Malfoy impatiently. He held up his fingers in the quote-quote symbol. 

"Oh," Frodo smiled sheepishly. He blushed. 

"Well?" asked Hermione eagerly. 

Malfoy raised an eyebrow at Hermione's eagerness. 

"No, I don't", said Frodo finally. 

"Uh huh", said Malfoy with a sneer. "Well your devoted fan sure thinks you are special to her." 

Hermione blushed furiously. "Well, maybe you can teach me how to dance hobbit-style", said Hermione slowly. 

"Sure, actually I was going to teach ya'll how, but I thought it would look kind of awkward if I was showing Harry how to dance with a partner. You know me holding Harry's hands and twirling him would give people the wrong impression." 

*~*~*~

__

Many bruised feet and wrong twirls afterwards……

****

"There Hermione see I told you, you're a natural", said Frodo. 

"Hey Frodo! Come here!" yelled a hobbit boy with a strange accent. 

"If you'll excuse me", said Frodo. He headed toward the boy. 

"Bye!" said Hermione dreamily. She went to the bench. She made a movement to sit down but miscalculated where the bench was and fell to the ground. 

Malfoy laughed pointing a finger at her. Harry couldn't help it but laugh right along with Malfoy. Hermione's face went beet red. She tried getting up. Harry had been laughing so hard that he hadn't seen the hobbit boy come up to Hermione until he spoke. 

"Are you alright, that was a nasty fall", laughed the boy merrily as he offered Hermione his hand. It was the same boy that had called to Frodo only a minute ago. Hermione looked up into his face and blushed furiously. 

"Oh boy here we go", said Malfoy. 

She took his hand and he helped her up. Harry and Malfoy had stopped laughing. 

"Frodo, told me you guys are new here to the Shire", said the boy turning to Malfoy and Harry. Harry nodded. 

"Oh, by the way, my name is Peregrine Took, but you can call me Pippin" said the boy. 

"Hi, I am Harry, Harry Potter", said Harry.

"I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy," said Malfoy with a sneer. 

Suddenly out of no where Ron returned carrying a big pile of plates laden with all types of food. Everyone looked at Ron with a surprised glance. Even Pippin's eyes were wide. Ron was introduced to Pippin and with his mouth full of, yes, bread, he answered "Ron, Ron Weasley."

"And what is your name?" asked Pippin turning to Hermione. Hermione turned around and looked behind her. Then she looked back at Pippin and pointed a finger at herself. 

"Yeah, what is your name you are the only one that hasn't told me your name," said Pippin. 

"Oh my name is….is… Her-hermione Gr-granger," said Hermione awkwardly. 

"Hermione? That's a pretty name."

Hermione blushed. Ron rolled his eyes. There was a moment of silence. Ron continued to eat. Malfoy was looking at Hermione and back at Pippin with a wicked smile on his face. And Hermione kept on looking at the ground. Harry watched Pippin. Pippin had kept his glance on Hermione with a smile and then he looked down. Harry looked up at the sky. The stars were shining brightly in the sky. Suddenly the whole sky was lit up as a firecracker rose up into the sky and exploded leaving an image of a tree in the sky. At that moment everyone looked up. Another firecracker went up and lit the night. 

"Hermione would you-" began to ask Pippin when another boy hobbit came from the dancing hobbits to where they were all sitting. He had blonde hair and had obviously just finished dancing. His hair was not necessarily neat and his cheeks were red. He was the first hobbit Harry had seen with blonde hair. 

" Hey, Pip, I have a great idea! This will -," the boy stopped. It was like he had just realized that Pippin wasn't alone. He held up a finger and pulled Pippin aside. Pippin excused himself and talked to his friend. The boy whispered his idea into Pippin's ear. Pippin's face lit up and he nodded to his companion. 

"Excellent idea, Merry. If you will excuse us we have something to do", said Pippin with a wink. Without another word they left and headed to where Gandalf was setting off the fireworks. 

*~*~*~

Harry was tired. He had been at this party for a long time and he was getting a bit bored. He had danced with Hermione twice and he had eaten all the food that he could possibly eat. Merry and Pippin, the two hobbits he had met earlier, had just unleashed a firecracker that was in the shape of a dragon and scared all the hobbits. Gandalf had put them to wash dishes as a punishment for setting off the firecracker without his permission. Hermione was busy talking to a hobbit girl, Rosie Cotton, and Ron was busy talking to Sam about some secret. Malfoy had left earlier saying that he was going to find Frodo to complain more about the party and see if he could embarrass him in some way or other. So Harry was left to himself. He was now sitting at a table watching everything that was going on. The hobbits had gotten over their fright and were now just talking merrily and basically having a jolly, good, hobbity time. Harry was tapping his foot to the rhythm of the music when he felt that awkward feeling that someone was watching him. 

He slowly looked around. No one appeared to be paying any particular attention to him. Maybe it was just him and his weird imagination. He suddenly felt thirsty and got up to go get a drink. At a table they were serving punch. He helped himself to some punch. He held the cup up to his lips and gulped down the refreshing drink. It felt good to his dry throat. It was at that moment that from the corner of Harry's eyes he saw something lurking behind the brightly lit area of the party. Something big was moving in the grass. Harry set his cup down. He stared hard to see if he could see whatever it was he had just saw. Nothing. Perplexed and curious he walked over to the edge of the bright glow coming from various lamps. Once pretty close to the border of the party he squinted to see if he could see whatever it was that he had seen before. Nothing. And yet why did he feel scared ? He scanned the grass one more time. Suddenly out of no where a pair of yellow eyes appeared from the long grass. Harry gave a gasp. Slowly the eyes came closer and Harry could make out the shape of something big. Something that he recognized almost at once. The shape moved steadily closer. Harry gave a cry and began to run backwards away from the eerie eyes. 

"It can't be it!" was all that Harry could think at the moment. When suddenly he tripped. Then he ran into someone which caused him to fall down to the ground. Harry looked up to see who he had bumped into. Then there was a huge explosion. Harry turned around just in time to see one of Gandalf's firecrackers go off and head right for the table with the two cakes on it. Sam had made a cake for Frodo because Harry had learned that today was Frodo's birthday as well. Harry flinched as he saw frightened hobbits get creamed by the two huge cakes. The firecracker kept on going till it went into the food tent. By now everyone was running wildly all over the place trying to get out of the way of the rocket. The rocket hit the tent and the tent went up in flames and there was a loud bang that shook the very ground underneath their feet. The tent was now on fire and everywhere hobbits were helping the hobbit lasses that were working in there out. Harry stood up amazed at what had just happened. The person he had run into turned around and looked down at Harry. It was Gandalf. 

"Harry don't just sit there help out!" screamed the wizard as he ran off to help some hobbits get buckets of water. 

"You have done it now, Potter" said Malfoy with an ear to ear grin. Harry turned around and saw Malfoy standing over him. Harry narrowed his eyes and said "You tripped me, Malfoy!". 

"I did nothing of the sort, Potter. Stop trying to blame your mistakes on me", Malfoy sneered and he walked calmly away laughing at a hobbit lass who had her hair on fire. Harry got up and saw that Frodo was coming toward him. He was carrying another hobbit lass who seemed to be knocked unconscious. Harry stared as Frodo set her down. 

"Harry watch over her will you, I have to go see which drunken idiot did this! And somehow manage to calm everyone down!" He ran back into the crowd. Harry was left with his mouth wide open. He looked down at the girl. She was breathing fine, but she was covered from head to toe with black soot. He quickly looked around he saw the sponge that Merry had been using to wash the dishes earlier and he soaked it into the first source of water he could find, the fruit punch. The girl immediately got up as soon as the sticky punch touched her cheeks. Harry was pleased to see that she was awake. 

Cries coming from behind Harry made Harry turn around. Harry's smile disappeared. He looked back at the tent that by now looked like it was suppose to look like a bonfire. Gandalf stood on top of what looked like a tree stump. His hands were held high in the air and he was saying something in a different language. Hermione and Ron came up to Harry. Their faces were a mixture of confusion and anxiety. Suddenly clouds started to roll in. Thunder rumbled and everyone head turned up to look at the sky. By now the fire was catching on to the other tents that were placed here and there. A lightning bolt struck and the rain came pouring down. Gandalf had summoned a storm to put out the fire. Unfortunately this didn't go so well for Harry or anyone else for that matter. The poor hobbit girl had just gone through a fire and now she was drenched in rain. 

"HARRY POTTER!" exclaimed Bilbo coming up from the baffled crowd. The crowd grew silent. Harry grinned and then he remembered the shadow that he had seen in the grass. He looked back and there was nothing there. Bilbo marched right up to him and said "Well, Harry you ruined my birthday, and Frodo's birthday I hope you are happy!" 

Harry was dumbfounded. He hadn't done anything all he had done was run into the wrong person. Harry opened his mouth to protest when Hermione stomped her foot on his own. Harry expression turned from anger to pain. Bilbo turned around at the crowd. Everyone was watching them. Biblo then stood up on a stump and cleared his throat. The storm had died down, but it was still raining. 

"My dear hobbits of the Shire, unfortunately disaster has struck the party and I am afraid it is over. I just want to let you all know, in case you have forgotten that today is alsp Frodo's birthday and that I want to wish him a very happy birthday." 

Everyone somewhat clapped. Frodo came out from the crowd. His hair was smoking and his face was black. His clothes had some of the cake on them. Harry flinched. Frodo didn't seem to happy either. Bilbo finished clapping for Frodo and continued.

"I regret to announce this is the end! I am going now and I wish you all a very fond farewell! Good-bye!" And with that Biblo disappeared into thin air. Harry, Ron, Hermione and the hobbit girl gasped. Everyone else too gasped. Harry couldn't believe what he had just seen. Hobbits didn't just disappear, did they? 


	6. Ch6 Goodbyes

****

D/N: I don't own anything! Ok good I am glad you realize that. Hehe its November only one more month! Yeah! 

And yes I used some of the lines from the movie, but I will give credit to the script writer person I am not sure what the proper name is. Is it screenwriter? I don't know. shrugs

Ch.6 Good-Byes 

Frodo stood there shocked as he kept staring at the place where Bilbo had been standing only two seconds ago. He couldn't believe that Bilbo had actually done it. Bilbo had actually gone through with his plan. He looked passed the tree stump and saw Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Hazel all wearing the same expression on their shocked faces. For a split moment there was complete silence. Then the whole entire field gave an uproar as confused hobbits went around the field swinging their arms around them wondering what on earth had just happened. Many of the hobbits began to make a run toward the exit. Others went up to Frodo and demanded to know what had happened. Frodo quickly apologized for the "inconvenience". A whole family of very angry Sandyman's came up covered from head to foot with cake frosting. 

"What is this, Baggins?" exclaimed Mrs. Mary Ann Sandyman a little bit of cake on her thick, curly, brown hair. 

"Is this your idea of a practical joke?"

Frodo opened his mouth to answer when out of nowhere his two favorite cousins came to his rescue. Pippin and Merry who were both black from the explosion of the firecracker, came up to the angry crowd. 

"Of course it was not a joke!" exclaimed Merry looking around at the angry mob. 

" Then how do you explain Bilbo disappearing like that!"

"Um, …good question….um you tell them, Pip", said Merry looking at poor Pippin. He pushed Pippin forward. Pippin stuttered for a second. He pointed at himself stupidly and Merry nodded anxiously. 

"Um, well you see, it was a er…. a er… magic trick. Yeah that's it! A magic trick that Bilbo learned from …uh…from.. uh… Gandalf! Yeah Gandalf!" 

The rest of the hobbits didn't exactly seem convinced. Pippin looked around he gave Merry a "help me!" glance. Merry looked around nervously. 

"Well, it is time for Mr. Baggins to start cleaning up. So everyone let's go", said Merry making motions with his hands toward the exit. No one moved. 

"Come on now move along, shoo! Yeah that's right shoo! You heard me, shoo! SHOO!" yelled Pippin acting like he was shooing away a couple of angry hens. 

All the hobbits marched away. One of the younger hobbits turned around and stuck his tongue out at Pippin. Pippin stuck his tongue out at the little boy. The boy continued to stick his tongue out. Pippin held up his hand and made an unpleasant gesture with his middle finger. The kid gasped and ran after his mother. 

"PIPPIN!" exclaimed Hermione with her hands on her hips. Pippin turned around and blushed. "What?" Hermione shook her head and rolled her eyes. Pippin turned and looked at Merry and shrugged his shoulders. 

"Thanks you guys", said Frodo " now can you help me clean the place up?" 

Pippin's face fell. "N- ow!" Merry had stepped on his foot. "Of course" said Pippin limping after a laughing Merry. 

Frodo smiled and turned around to face the wizards who had been watching silently, except for Hermione, from behind him. When Frodo looked in Harry's direction a small hint of anger began to grow from inside him. It bubbled up until Frodo could withhold it any longer. 

"Why weren't you watching where you were going?!" 

"Huh?" asked Harry. 

"When you plowed into Gandalf why weren't you watching where you were going. I saw the whole thing. I mean you were walking backwards!" Frodo's eyes seemed to grow. Harry looked at him. He tried to say something. But for some odd reason he couldn't. It was Frodo's eyes. They were intimidating him. He just hung his head low. From the corners of his eyes he realized that everyone was looking at him waiting for his answer. He wished that he and Frodo could talk about this somewhere else. He wished that he could disappear like Bilbo into thin air. 

Frodo realized that Harry wasn't going to answer anytime soon. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. He looked up and saw that everyone was watching them. As if waiting to see what kind of punishment was going to be given to the trouble maker. 

"Never mind we will talk about this later. Go up to Bag End and we will join you later", said Frodo pointing up to Bag End. 

Harry sighed with relief. He secretly thanked Frodo and made his way through the crowd. As he squeezed his way through the many spectators he could hear whispers about him. 

"That's it? That is his punishment?" 

"See I told you it had something to do with that lot and to think I thought he was the most sensible looking one." 

"I believe that they also have something to do with Bilbo's disappearance." 

"Is that a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead?" 

Harry quickly covered his scar with his bangs and set off at a jog toward the hill. Grumbling to himself he felt angry. But he wasn't angry at Frodo he was more angry at Bilbo for jumping to the conclusion that he had done that on purpose. "Oh well, there is really nothing I can do now", he thought to himself. On his way up he felt the chilling feeling that something was watching him. Harry turned around to look behind him. Nothing was there. 

"It's all in your head, Harry. Just like that dog, it is all in your head", he thought. He continued to trudge on. He thought that he must somehow bring himself about to telling Frodo the truth. And how he had accidentally knocked into Gandalf. He had tripped, I mean come on. Suddenly he turned around swiftly. This time he definitely heard something. Harry's eyes looked swiftly around him. Nothing only darkness. The lights from the field cast ghostly shadows all around him. His breath came out short and he could see a cloud form in front of him whenever he breathed. He suddenly felt cold. He shivered. Then his ears picked up another sound behind him. This time he didn't turn around immediately. He slowly turned his body around. Once again nothing. 

"Hello? Is anyone there?" he called looking around him. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand. He held it up in front of him. His eyes darted around. Then a nearby bush rustled its leaves. Harry froze. Cautiously he crept up close to the bush. The bush rustled again. Harry held up his wand and whispered, " Lumos." A small beam came from the tip of his wand. It lighted the area in front of him. A strange hissing sound came from the bush. Then a black cat ran out from his refuge among the bushes. It stopped in the middle of the path. It sat up and licked its paw. It stared at Harry with wide yellow eyes. Harry stared at it. The cat twitched its ear and with a meow darted away into the darkness. 

"Only a stupid cat", grumbled Harry. He put his glasses firmly on the bridge of his nose, for they had been sliding off, and holding his head up high continued his short journey up the hill. He didn't noticed that from the opposite side of the road in the bushes a pair of bright yellow eyes were staring out at him. They blinked and disappeared. When he finally reached the gate at Bag End he was still thinking about the big, black dog that he had seen. Once at the door he reached for the doorknob, but drew his hand away. Angry voices could be heard inside. Harry's old curiosity returned to him and he kneeled by the keyhole and listened. 

"I am not trying to rob you", said a deep booming voice from inside " I'm trying to help you." 

Harry recognized the voice as that of Gandalf's. What was going on? Eager to learn what was going on inside he strained his ears to hear the rest. There was more soft talk and Harry could only catch a word here and there. Then he heard footsteps coming toward the door. Harry quickly sat up and backed away from the door. Surprisingly no one came out. Harry was just about to return to his former position when Bilbo opened the door. His head was looking toward the ground. He looked up at Harry and gave a yell. 

"Oh you frightened me, my boy. What are you doing here?" asked Bilbo.

"Oh, um, Frodo sent me up here", answered Harry truthfully. 

"Oh, I see." 

"Are you going somewhere Bilbo?" asked Harry looking at the pack, the traveling clothes, and the walking stick in Bilbo's hand. 

"Um, yes Harry I am leaving here for good", answered Bilbo sadly. 

"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry I didn't think that me ruining your party meant so much to you. I promise I will make it up to you", exclaimed Harry quickly. He felt terrible. 

Bilbo looked surprised but then he began to laugh. Harry was confused. Why was Bilbo laughing?

"No, no my dear boy. I was planning to leave tonight anyways. This has nothing to do with your little show tonight. And speaking about that", his voice became very grave, " I am sorry I judged you rashly. I should have never done that. I know you didn't do it on purpose, I just was very angry about the fact that the surprise birthday party for Frodo had been ruined. I am sorry, Harry." 

"Don't worry about it, Bilbo. I am the one that should be sorry. I didn't know it was Frodo's birthday?"

Bilbo nodded. Harry felt the sinking feeling in his stomach again. 

"But I am sorry", he added quickly. 

"I know you are and I forgive you." 

Bilbo smiled and to Harry's surprise he gave him a warm embrace. Harry returned the hug. He didn't want Bilbo to leave. Somehow he had gotten attached to this grandfatherly figure. Bilbo let go of Harry. Harry felt something warm and wet come rolling down his cheek. He touched his face with his hand. It was a tear. Bilbo sniffed and cleared his throat. 

"Thank you Bilbo for you hospitality. I really appreciate it. And I am speaking for all of us, Ron, Hermione, and even Malfoy. Thank you so much." 

Bilbo waved his hand and chuckled. "Take care of Frodo for me won't you?" 

Harry nodded. He backed away from Bilbo. 

"Well it's late the road is long," said Bilbo getting ready to walk off. 

"Bilbo", said Gandalf's voice from the door. Bilbo stopped and looked behind him. 

"Hm."

"The Ring is still in your pocket", said Gandalf coming out from the doorway. Bilbo took a shaking hand into his pocket and took out something that Harry couldn't see. Bilbo smiled and looked at Gandalf. He lay out his hand so that his palm was facing up. And in his hand, Harry saw a single golden ring. It was very simple really nothing that would be of much value back in England. Bilbo's hand began to tremble. Harry looked intently from Bilbo's face to the Ring in his hand. Bilbo slowly moved his hand so that the Ring could simply slide off and fall to the ground. But the Ring seemed to stick to Bilbo's hand. Finally after what seemed forever the Ring fell. Harry followed the Ring's progress to the ground. It hit the tile floor heavily. Bilbo then went outside and looked back. 

"I have thought up an ending for my book. And he lived happily ever after till the end of his days", he said looking at Gandalf and Harry. 

"And I am sure you will. Good-bye!" called Gandalf. 

"Good-bye dear friend! Farewell Harry!" Bilbo turned and headed down the road singing a song to himself. 

Beside Harry, Gandalf murmured, " Till our next meeting." Once Bilbo was out of sight, Gandalf turned around and looked at Harry straight in the eye. 

"Don't mention this to anyone. Not even your friends. At least until I say otherwise." 

Harry stared at Gandalf and nodded his head. Tell about what he wondered. Gandalf headed into the house. He stopped at the entrance and made to pick something up. Changing his mind he got up and walked onward. Harry followed his eyebrows raised still pondering about what Gandalf had just said. He entered the house when his foot touched something on the floor. Looking down Harry saw the Ring that Bilbo had had in his pocket. He looked up and saw that Gandalf was watching him. Harry looked at Gandalf and back down at the Ring. Naturally he bent down to pick it up, always watching the old wizard from the corner of his eyes. Just before he was about to grab the Ring he heard a strange whisper. It seemed to fill the air all around him. 

"Harry Potter", it whispered. 

Harry looked around. No longer aware of Gandalf's stare. 

"Harry."

Harry looked around again. He looked down at the Ring. "Harry Potter come to me."

Harry's fingers began to shake as he slowly made to pick it up again. In the air all around him he could hear whispers. It seemed that the air was full of the same strange and freaky voice calling his name. His fingers got closer and closer to the Ring. He was only a few millimeters away. 

"Harry, Harry, Harry, HARRY!" 

At that moment Harry's scar began to burn like it had never burned before. Harry felt that his head was going to be split in two. 

"ARGH!" he screamed and fell back on the floor. 

He grabbed a hold of his head and winced in pain. Gandalf rushed over to him and asked if he was alright. At that moment Harry thought it was the stupidest question that anyone had ever asked him. Gandalf knelt down beside Harry. Harry slowly opened his eyes and stared at the Ring lying on the floor. He quickly scooted away from it. Gandalf watched him his face full of concern. He helped Harry up and set him down in an armchair nearby. Harry was still rubbing his forehead. His scar stopped burning. His eyes were wide with fear. 

"What happened, Harry?" asked Gandalf looking very worried. 

Harry gasped for breath. His heart was beating rapidly. He looked up at Gandalf. 

"I saw something strange. I was bending down to pick up the Ring and when I bent down I could hear a small voice whispering my name. Then when I was about to pick it up the voice stopped whispering and yelled my name. At that exact moment I saw in my head a huge fiery eye. Like the eye of a reptile like a snake or something. And it made a sort of roaring noise. That was when my scar began to hurt. It has never hurt this bad before though. Gandalf? What are you looking at?"

Gandalf was looking at Harry's forehead. He pointed at his scar. Harry reached up to feel his scar. It felt hot. 

"You say that your scar has hurt before, but has it ever done that?" Gandalf asked not taking his eyes away from Harry's forehead. 

"Done what?" exclaimed Harry. He jumped up before Gandalf could answer and ran to Bilbo's room where he knew there was a mirror. As he came into the dark room he pointed his wand at the empty fireplace and boomed, "Incendio!" A small fire started in the fireplace. Harry ran to the mirror on the wall over Biblo's dresser. He gasped his scar was glowing reddish orange. He ran back to Gandalf. 

"What is that thing?" he asked referring to the Ring. Gandalf sighed and said," I am not sure. We need to talk about that scar of yours it might help to shed a little light on Bilbo's Ring." 

Harry nodded and sat down in a nearby chair. Gandalf made himself comfortable in a chair beside the fire. Harry began to explain about his scar and his history. He spoke of the happenings during his first year at Hogwarts. About his encounter with Voldemort. Then also about his second encounter with Voldemort during his second year as well. While he spoke Gandalf remained quiet not interrupting at all. He listened quietly and politely only interrupting here and there to clarify something or to ask a question. Harry was about to tell him about what had happened earlier that year when there was a sound from the frontdoor. Harry and Gandalf both turned their heads to see who it was. Frodo was at the door. He was looking around and then looked down at the floor. To Harry's surprise, Frodo picked up the Ring without the slighest hesitation. He went over to where he and Gandalf were sitting. 

"Is Bilbo gone? Where is he? He left didn't he. He talked so long about leaving, I didn't think he would actually do it." he said as he came over to Gandalf holding the Ring. 

"Yes he has gone to stay with the elves. He has left you Bag End", answered Gandalf with a smile. He held up and open envelope to Frodo. Frodo placed the Ring inside. Gandalf then hastily closed the envelope and put a seal on it. "Along with all his possesions. The Ring is yours now", he added hastily. He gave Frodo the enclosed envelope. Frodo took it. 

"Well I must get going", said Gandalf getting up. Harry and Frodo both looked up at him in surprise.

"Going, where?" asked Harry.

"I need to find somethings."

"What things?" asked Frodo.

"Questions, questions that need answering", answered Gandalf as he went around the house picking up his belongings. He was followed by Harry and Frodo. 

"You have only just arrived. I don't understand", said Frodo. 

Gandalf stopped. He was now at the door. He turned around to face both Frodo and Harry. 

"Neither do I". He then went up to Frodo and whispered something in his ear. Harry couldn't catch what he said. Then Gandalf turned and looked at Harry. He too bent down and whispered into Harry's ear, "Keep it secret. And don't tell even Frodo. I shall return to take you and your friends to Isengard. But something has come up about you know what. I will return shortly." 

And without another word he opened the door and walked quickly out, closing the door with a bang. Harry and Frodo looked at one another, each wondering what had Gandalf said to the other. Frodo looked down at the sealed envelope which was still in his hand. Harry reached up to touch his scar. It was no longer hot. Frodo and Harry then looked at one another one more time and they both sighed. Both had the exact same question in their minds. What was Gandalf up to?


	7. Home Sweet Home

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D/N: I don't own anything! sob Ok I am going to try to update at least every two weeks. Haha ok I will TRY!!!!

Ch. 7 Home Sweet Home 

"He did WHAT!"

Frodo, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy were all sitting in Frodo's living room. They were sitting around a crackling fire that Hermione had made appear in the fireplace with one swish of her wand. Frodo and Harry had just told the others about Gandalf leaving. They reassured them that he would return shortly, but apparently they weren't taking the news all to well. Malfoy looked like he was going to faint. Ron had turned ghostly white. 

"Why on earth did he decide to leave us!" exclaimed Malfoy waving his arms. 

"I am not sure, but knowing Gandalf it was for a good reason", answered Frodo calmly. He got up from the armchair which he had been sitting in and excused himself. 

"Where are you going?" asked Malfoy getting angrier by the minute. 

Frodo turned around and answered calmly, "I am going to make some tea do you want some?" Everyone nodded yes and Frodo went off to make some tea. 

At this moment Harry felt tempted to tell Ron and Hermione about what had happened during their absence here in Bag End. He wanted to tell them about his scar hurting and about the freaky whispers that he had heard. But the memory of Gandalf's anxious face held him back from telling his friends anything. Besides they were already paranoid as it is. Ron kept on running his fingers through his hair. Malfoy was biting his nails. Only Hermione remained quiet and thoughtful as she sat in the couch beside Ron. She had a faraway look as if she was seeing something passed the fireplace. Frodo returned shortly carrying a tray that held five cups of tea. Frodo passed them out to everyone and sat back down on the couch. 

"So what are we suppose to do now? Gandalf is gone and we are stuck here. We may never get to go back home!" exclaimed Ron. He was hysterical. "We are doomed", he continued "doomed, doomed!"

Hermione had her arms crossed. She slowly uncrossed them, rolling her eyes. She turned to face Ron who was sitting beside Malfoy. Leaning close to Ron and Malfoy she put her hands on their shoulders. Staring into their eyes she said, " First thing we should do is, RELAX!"

Ron and Malfoy didn't say anything after that. Hermione, looking pleased with herself and returned to her normal sitting position. 

"Besides I know that Frodo has probably already thought up a solution of what we should do", she smiled sweetly at Frodo. Frodo blinked and looked at Harry. 

"Well, I think it is pretty obvious. You guys are welcome to stay here in my home until Gandalf returns. And I hate to tell you all this. You might as well make yourselves comfortable because I am afraid he won't be returning anytime soon. Depending on where he has gone, but my guess is that he won't return for another two to three weeks." 

"WHAT! You expect me to live in a muddy hole like this for almost a month?" Malfoy seemed to have gone mad. Hermione offered him some tea to try to calm him down. 

"Well, that is the best that can be done Malfoy so I suggest you better shut your trap before you are kicked out into the cold!" exclaimed Harry. He was getting mad at the ingratitude of Malfoy toward Frodo. 

"It is alright, Harry. I don't blame you, Draco. But that is the best we can do at the moment. Besides I can think up loads of ways to entertain ya'll while you guys are here. Anyways I am happy that you are staying. At least I won't be here all by myself." said Frodo. 

**Everyone, except Malfoy, smiled. They all thanked Frodo for his generosity and hospitality. The grandfather clock in the hallway struck one o' clock in the morning. Frodo told them off to bed. Harry, Ron, and Malfoy went to their room. And Hermione went to hers. Lying there in his covers Harry began to think of the different ways that Frodo would be planning to entertain them. He realized how tired he was as he yawned and fell immediately to sleep. **

*~*~*~*~*~*~

A rooster from outside crowed. The sun was barely rising over the horizon. The rays of the dawning sun flowed all over the countryside. It made its way up the hill of Bag End and through Frodo's window. It reached Frodo's bed and hit his face. Frodo's eyes flickered open. His eyes were met by a beautiful sunrise. He smiled to himself and yawned. He softly got up from his bed. He put on a casual vest and pants. After getting dress he softly opened his bedroom door. He crept outside and closed the door carefully. He went down the hallway on tip-toe. When he passed the boys' room he paused. He went to the door and put his ear to the keyhole. He could hear them snoring inside. He smiled and went to Hermione's bedroom door. He did the same thing and found that Hermione was sound asleep. He cautiously tip-toed his way into the kitchen. 

After a couple of hours he looked at his handiwork. A tall pile of pancakes was piled high on a plate. Beside it was a pan filled with scrambled eggs. From the stove the smell of bacon filled the air. He checked inside the oven, the muffins were ready. He took out the special jar of hunny for the pancakes and set it down on the dining room table. He had just finished placing the last mug in its proper place when a very sleepy looking Harry walked into the kitchen. His eyes were drowsy and he was just putting on his glasses. When he did his eyes widened as he looked down at the feast before him. 

"Good morning, Harry. I made everyone a big breakfast to make up for the shock last night. Here sit down. I hope you like your eggs scrambled. Fried eggs aren't necessarily my specialty." said Frodo as he pulled a chair out for him. 

"Wow, Frodo, thanks! Of course, I don't mind" said Harry. He immediately sat down and began to help himself to some eggs and bacon. Frodo beamed at the fact that his breakfast had turned out the way that he had wanted it. Minutes later, Draco Malfoy came into the kitchen followed by Ron. Hermione was the last she had gotten dressed before she had come to breakfast ( she didn't have a nightdress, so she was forced to sleep in her under garments). Everyone sat down. When Hermione had took her place at the table, Frodo sat down himself and began to serve himself some pancakes. 

**They were all silent for a while, partly because they were all enjoying the food and the sounds of the birds chirping in the fresh, crisp, morning air outside. Frodo had left the kitchen windows open and the warm sunlight was streaming into the room. Finally after a while, Ron looked up from his plate and patted his stomach. "Whoo! I got to hand it to you, Frodo you really out did yourself this time." **

Frodo smiled, " I am glad you enjoyed it." Harry put down his fork and wiped his mouth with his napkin. "So Frodo, what do you have in store for us today?" he asked. Frodo finished the rest of his orange juice. He set the cup down and said, "We are going shopping and I will give you guys the more detailed tour of Hobbiton."

For the next couple of weeks Frodo took Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco pratically everywhere. They, surprisingly, had a blast. Frodo took them to Buckland where his cousin Merry lived. Partly to show them how the hobbits lived by the nearby river and partly to show them the place where he grew up in. Merry welcomed them with open arms and he invited them to a dinner with the rest of the Brandybuck family. It was a nice rather formal dinner. But the food was delicious and the four young wizards enjoyed themselves a lot. After staying a day in Buckland, they all said good-bye to Merry and his family. Frodo then took the wizards to the land that belonged to the Tooks. There of course lived, Pippin. Pippin was more than happy to receive them and he himself personally showed them around his home. He, too, invited them to a dinner with his own family. This resulted in being a much more louder sort of dinner. Pippin had many younger relations and it was all very chaotic, but everyone loved it. During their stay in the Took's home, Sam and Merry came to visit. One night after the grand feast Pippin proposed that they all sit in the living room by the fire and have some hot chocolate. Everyone agreed to this and once they were all comfortable by the fireplace, Sam came up with the idea of interchanging stories with one another. 

**Harry, Ron, and Hermione took turns telling about their experiences during their first and second year. Some of this was new to Malfoy. Malfoy, too, told exaggerating stories about him and his many "adventures". It was time to go to bed, but Frodo promised that the next day he would tell them all a story that he was sure they would all enjoy. Everyone stayed in the Took's house that day. It was more of a hall then anything else. The next morning they all gathered in the same room as the night before. Frodo then began to tell them about Bilbo's adventure. **

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit", he began. The telling of the story in fact lasted all day. Even though Sam, Merry and Pippin had heard the story before several times they were still fascinated by it. The Hogwarts wizards were spellbound by Frodo's words about Bilbo's adventure.

"You know when I was little, Bilbo would tell me these stories all the time. And all the time I would wish that I could have gone with him. But I suppose I will always remain in the Shire and be plain old Frodo." Frodo sighed. 

"You know it is a shame, if you think about it. Harry here was only 11 years old and he already had a grand adventure! That is just sad!" exclaimed Pippin. He pouted. Merry snorted. Sam sipped his chocolate quietly. 

****

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It had been exactly a month since Gandalf's departure. But for Harry it had seemed a lot shorter. Now they were going into the cooler weather of September. The leaves of the trees were beginning to turn warm colors. Orange, red and yellow. Frodo and the wizards had just finished having dinner with the Gamgees ( Sam had insisted on inviting them). They were all returning to Bag End, laughing about the conversation that had been held at the dinner table regarding Sam and his crush, Rosie Cotton. Sam had had a fancy for her since he was a hobbit lad. At the dinner table, Frodo had brought it up and Sam got more than enough tips on how to ask her "out" as Malfoy called it. Now with their stomachs full they were happy to return home. They went up the steps. Hermione got to the door first. She took out her wand and whispered, "Alohomora." The door unlocked and she opened the door and let herself in. She was looking around Bag End glad to return to bed after a long and tiring day. She glanced around. Suddenly she froze, her face filled with fear. Ron came in behind her. He was punching Harry playfully. Hermione grabbed part of his robe to attract his attention. Ron stopped and asked, "What?" Hermione didn't answer but pointed in the direction of the nearby fireplace. She heard Ron gasp behind her. The window was opened and there were papers scattered all over the place. Harry and Malfoy came up behind Ron and Hermione. Frodo came in last. His face was serious and filled with concern. He stepped forward.

"Stay here, Harry and Draco would you please come with me?" he whispered. 

**Harry and Draco nodded and they held up their wands and both muttered, "Lumos." The light from their wands illuminated the living area. And everyone gasped in horror. Every single piece of furniture had been turned over. The whole place was a mess it looked as if someone had been looking for something. Books were off the bookshelves, pictures lying broken on the floor. It was a complete mess. Harry walked cautiously around. It seemed that someone had broken into the house and had been searching for something, in haste. Frodo was breathing hard at his side, and Malfoy kept on stepping on the creaking floorboards. **

"Alright, here is what we'll do. I will take the bedrooms, Harry, you take the living room and the sitting room. Draco, I want you to take the kitchen and the dining room. If you see anything give a yell." Frodo then turned to Ron and Hermione who were still at the entrance. "I want you two to stay here and watch the entrance for me. We don't want our robber to get out."

Everyone nodded. Frodo sighed and headed toward the bedrooms. In the hallway he stopped and picked up a candle. Hermione went over and lit the candle with a tap from her wand. Frodo smiled and thanked her. He then gave them all a very mischievous glance and disappeared into the darkness. Harry went forward into the living room. It was the same story. He looked around there seemed to be nothing stolen. He was just about to enter the sitting room when he heard Hermione scream. His blood ran cold and he went off to the entrance to see what was the matter. There he found Hermione clutching on to Ron as if her very life depended on it. She looked like she had just seen a ghost. Ron was looking at the direction that she was pointing at. It was in the direction that the sitting room was located. In a few minutes they were joined by Malfoy and Frodo. 

**"What's wrong?" asked Frodo. **

" I saw a shadow moving over there," Hermione stammered. 

"Where?"

"Over there in the sitting room, by the fireplace."

At that moment Frodo's eyes grew wide and he raced to the sitting room. It was all completely dark and the window was still open. Frodo looked around the sitting room. There was nothing. He then ordered that Ron would light a fire in the fireplace. Once lit, Frodo bent down on his knees over an overturned small chest. The papers that had been in the box were now spilled everywhere. He looked through them. Then as if he suddenly had remembered he went back to the chest. 

All this time he kept on mumbling, "where is it, where is it?" Finally he opened up a secret compartment on the lid of the chest. And from the lid he pulled out a single, sealed envelope. Harry recognized it as the envelope that Gandalf had given to him a month ago. Then it clicked inside Harry's head. The Ring. Frodo was afraid that whoever it was that had broken into the house had stolen the Ring. Frodo felt the envelope making sure that the Ring was inside. He sighed as he felt the familiar shape of the golden Ring. 

Suddenly, from the doorway Hermione once again screamed. Harry, Frodo, Ron and Malfoy all turned around looking at her. They all gasped. Hermione was being held by a shadowy figure in the doorway. Since it was dark they could not discern the figure's face, but one thing was for sure, he wasn't a hobbit. He had covered up Hermione's mouth. She was struggling, her eyes were open so wide. The man held her against him. Harry gulped. 

Author's Note: Oooo cliffhanger, hehehe who is this mysterious person that has grabbed a hold of Hermione? Who will be brave enough to save her? Tune in next time to find out! LoL hehehe ok I will stop now. I accept all reviews, and bad reviews ( I can't remember what they are called) ;) 


	8. The Journey Begins

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D/N: I don't own anything! Everything belongs to Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, and the screenplay writer I know the correct name for the script people now. Hehehe The one thing that I do own though is this made up spell that I am going to put in the chapter. Oh and by the way from now on these are going to be long chapters or at least this one will be long. Hehe too much info I guess. 

Ch. 8 The Journey Begins

****

Everyone stayed at a standstill. Hermione was still in the grasp of whoever it was that had gotten a hold of her. Harry didn't know what to do. He stood there frozen still to what it seemed to him forever. In reality it was only about for three seconds. Suddenly he felt a rush of wind at his side as he saw Ron jump forward, his wand out of his pocket. 

"Let her go!" he screamed as he held out his wand in front of him, pointing it at the shadowy figure. 

"Ron wait!" exclaimed Frodo, but it was too late. 

"Flipendo!" bellowed Ron as a green light flashed from his wand. It hit the figure square in the chest. It sent him flying across the yard and he landed on the grass, groaning. Hermione ran over behind a stunned Harry. Ron turned around looking very proud at what he had just done. Frodo was in apparent shock. He looked at Ron with much more respect than he would have normally shown him. 

****

"Wow," was all he could say. Then as if recovering from the shock, he ran outside. He went over to where the shadowy figure was lying sprawled on the ground. Standing over him, his expression changed. Harry went to where Frodo and the man were. The man was groaning. Standing over him, Harry realized why Frodo had been shocked to find out who it was. 

"Gandalf are you alright?" asked Frodo. He helped Gandalf back onto his feet. 

"Alright? All right! (Frodo and Harry gulped, from the door Ron looked as if he has just seen a ghost.) A 13-year-old amateur wizard has just attacked me. My back hurts and I landed on my ass!" Gandalf was furious. 

Ron gulped. "Gandalf, I am SO sorry! I didn't realize it was you, I -I can I help you?" Ron felt terrible, he went down the stairs and over to where Frodo and Harry were helping Gandalf up. Gandalf cursed under his breath he shook himself free from Frodo and Harry. His staff was lying on the ground beside the place where he had been. He swiftly picked it up. Ron bent down to pick up Gandalf's hat, for it was lying on the ground as well. Gandalf snatched it away from Ron. Ron hid behind Frodo as Gandalf went up the steps. Malfoy was trying very hard not to laugh. Gandalf shot him a deadly glance and Malfoy became silent. Hermione had her hands over her mouth, her eyes still wide with fright. Gandalf stopped halfway down the hallway. 

"I am so sorry Gandalf, but I thought you were a robber or something. Why did you hold Hermione like that?" asked Ron trying to make Gandalf understand the reason for his attack. 

****

"Because Hermione could have screamed her head off like she had done just a few moments ago and woken up the whole neighborhood! Besides I wanted to make sure no one would get their attention drawn to the house. What in blazes happened here?" he exclaimed looking around at the mess. 

"Someone broke in, Gandalf", answered Frodo closing the door. 

"When did this happen?" 

"Just now, or at least we came in to the house and everything was like this. We think that the thief had entered through the window over there." Frodo pointed over at the window. Gandalf turned around and stared at Frodo.

"Is it secret, is it safe!"

"What?" asked Malfoy; Gandalf ignored him. He was still looking intently at Frodo. Frodo nodded and Gandalf sighed. It seemed that with that sigh a huge load had been taken off his shoulders. 

"Frodo," said Gandalf he stopped and turned to the wizards " Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, there is something that you all must know."

****

Gandalf then took the envelope that had still been in Frodo's hand and threw it into the fire. Frodo gave a sort of a cross between a yell and a yelp. Harry too gasped. Frodo dove for the tongs( I think that is what they are called oh well you get what I am trying to say**) that were by the fireplace, but Gandalf held him back. In the fire of the little chimney they could all see the envelope slowly burning away, revealing the Ring. Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy leaned over to see if they could get a better glimpse of the Ring. Gandalf grabbed the tongs and picked it up. **

"Hold out your hand Frodo. It's quite cool," said Gandalf as he held out the Ring in the tongs. Frodo did as he was told. Gandalf dropped it into Frodo's hand. Hermione looked over Frodo's shoulder to get a better view of the Ring. 

"What do you see? Can you see anything?" asked Gandalf.

"Nothing," answered Frodo looking at it and shaking his head. He held the Ring in his fingers. "Wait, there are markings it's some form of elvish I can't read it." Hermione went around Frodo, so that she was facing him. She held out her hand. "Can I see it?" she asked. 

"NOOO!!!!" exclaimed Gandalf as he sort of jumped (hitting his head on the ceiling, in the process) and blocked Hermione's hand from getting a hold of the Ring. Hermione took back her hand quickly and stared at Gandalf. Gandalf turned around and looked into her face, while he rubbed his head in the place he had hit it on the ceiling. 

"You can not touch the Ring," he said. 

"How come Frodo is holding the Ring then?" asked Ron. 

"Because this is the One Ring, forged by the Dark Lord Sauron." 

*~*~*~*~

_About 45 minutes of explaining later...._

****

"So let me get the straight", said Malfoy sitting comfortably in one of the chairs in the dining room. By now Gandalf had explained to all of them about the One Ring of Power. Frodo had decided to sit everyone down. He was slowly walking around the kitchen serving Gandalf some tea. Harry, Ron, and Malfoy were all sitting down in chairs, all except for Hermione who was thinking and preferred to stand up.

"So let me get the straight," repeated Malfoy, " long, long ago there was an evil dark lord that came from this place called...."

"Mordor," said Gandalf. 

"Yea, and he made this one Ring of power that had the power to take over all of Middle-Earth. Then of course there was a war. And it seemed that Sauron's forces were winning. Till all of a sudden this guy named, who?"

"Isildur," said Frodo from the pantry. 

"Yea him, he comes over and cuts the Ring off of Sauron's hand. So then Sauron is destroyed. And all his evil people were defeated. So then Isildur keeps the Ring and everything ends all happily ever after. But now it turns out that the Ring had been forgotten and hadn't been found until now. Now Sauron has somehow resurrected from the dead and is coming back for the Ring. Is that about right?" He said this all very fast. 

Ron, Hermione, and Harry blinked. Gandalf took a swig from his mug of tea. He cleared his throat before he spoke. 

****

"Almost, except Sauron did not rise from the dead like you so put it. His spirit endured because he is one with the Ring. So since the Ring survived, so did Sauron. Now he is coming back, he is coming for the Ring."

"Alright then we will put it away, we will never speak of it again. No one knows it's here do they?" said Frodo. He took the Ring and walked out of the dining room. He stopped and turned around awkwardly. 

"Do they, Gandalf?"

"Yes, someone knows," said an unexpected voice. Everyone turned to see Hermione coming forth out of her little corner where she had been this whole entire time. She looked at all of them. Everyone, except Gandalf, seemed to be at a lost. 

"Honestly, don't you guys pay any attention? Gollum, Gollum knows that Bilbo has it. For, if I am not mistaken, that Ring is the same Ring that Bilbo found in Gollum's cave. You know during his adventure."

"You are correct, Ms. Granger," said Gandalf with a slight smile. 

"Don't you remember the riddles in the dark? Gollum asked Bilbo who he was or where he was from, or something like that, and Bilbo answered that his name was Bilbo Baggins of the Shire." continued Hermione.

"Your right, Hermione. I looked everywhere for the creature Gollum, but the enemy found him first. I do not know how long they tortured him, but among his many words they discerned two words. Shire. Baggins." Gandalf looked at all of them. 

"Shire, Baggins, but that would lead them directly to us!" exclaimed Harry. 

"What are we going to do?"asked Ron.

"What! What does that exactly mean are we going to die?" yelled Malfoy. 

"No, no you are not going to die, not unless if we act quickly," said Gandalf. He looked at everyone earnestly. Harry was sweating. Hermione had a determined look on her face. Malfoy was panicking. Ron was turning (if could be possible) paler than ever. Frodo who was still holding the Ring closed his hand over it. Everyone turned to look at Frodo. Frodo looked at each of their worried faces and said, "What must I do?"

"You must leave, and leave quickly," said Gandalf. Frodo stared at him for a split second and then dashed off into his room to get all his belongings. 

"Leave? Leave where? Where is he supposed to go? Come to think of it where are we suppose to go? Gandalf, Gandalf, damn you listen to me!" It was Malfoy speaking. He threw a book at Gandalf's back. Gandalf had been following Frodo around giving him basic instructions. So far he had been ignoring the wizard's remarks, until Malfoy had thrown the book at Gandalf to get his attention. 

Gandalf turned around and stared at Malfoy. Malfoy was furious, it was clear he wasn't going to stop there. "What the hell are we suppose to do? You are telling Frodo what he is suppose to do, but are you forgetting about us?" Malfoy's face was glowing pink. Ron, Hermione, and Harry were all staring at him. Gandalf sighed and turned around. Frodo was off in the kitchen packing some food to take on the trip. They kept on hearing all these bangs and clangs of pots and pans falling down on the ground. Frodo was obviously having some trouble getting the food into his backpack. Gandalf sighed and looked at the wizards. 

"You can't just leave us here Gandalf. I mean what about you taking us to Isengard. We need to get there. Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy need to get back to England." Harry said, even though he was secretly grateful that Ron, Hermione, and even Malfoy had stayed with him for so long. 

****

"Yea, Gandalf we have been waiting long enough for you to take us to Isengard", said Ron. 

"You children must understand that this is serious business. We are talking about the possible end of Middle Earth, as we know it. So Frodo must go and take the Ring to the village of Bree!" He said his last sentence loud enough so that Frodo could hear from the kitchen. 

"Well, where are we going to stay? Where are you going?" asked Hermione hands on her hips. 

"I have to go see the head of my council, he is both wise and powerful, trust me he will know what to do," said Gandalf. 

"Hold on a minute, isn't the head of your council, Saruman?" asked Harry. Gandalf made a funny face. 

"Damn! You are a smart lad Harry," said Gandalf with a forced smile. 

"You mean to tell me that, you are going to the exact same place that we are suppose to be in right now!" roared Malfoy. 

At this moment Frodo walked in carrying a pack on his back and holding a walking stick. He looked around at all the angry faces there. " Oh almost forgot my cloak!" and he disappeared into his room again. 

"Well, why don't you four stay with someone? Samwise for instance," offered Gandalf. 

Frodo returned carrying an emerald green cloak. He looked around at everyone. Ron was muttering something under his breath. Harry was trying very hard to hold back Malfoy from attacking Gandalf. Frodo all of a sudden got an idea. By this time Gandalf and the wizards had gotten into a heated argument. 

"Gandalf! Gandalf!"

Gandalf and the others stopped yelling. They all turned around and stared at Frodo. Frodo, now that he had everyone's attention, said, "Why don't they just come with me? I mean I could use their company and Gandalf you saw what Ron did to you. They could help me. It's convenient for you too Gandalf. Bree is much closer to Isengard then the Shire. So it may all work out in the end. Don't get me wrong; I hate to get you guys into trouble. But it seems to me that it is the only way." Frodo shrugged and gave them a "why not" look. 

"That is an excellent idea Frodo!" exclaimed Hermione. Everyone else agreed to this idea. Gandalf did, though, reluctantly. 

"All right everyone go and get packed", said Gandalf. As all of them disappeared Gandalf continued to give Frodo further instructions. He warned him about the many dangers that he might be facing. Gandalf also told Frodo to watch out for the wizards for they were only still children, and to especially look after Harry. Frodo nodded even though he didn't know what was wrong with Harry. Harry and the others returned shortly each of them carrying packs. Malfoy was complaining about how he was doing "servant's work". Suddenly by the open window the bushes rustled. 

"Get down!" commanded Gandalf. "Huh?" asked Ron, but Hermione pulled him down. The bushes rustled again. "What is going on?" asked Malfoy, but Harry shushed him. Gandalf grabbed his staff and held it out in front of him just like Harry would with his wand. The bushes rustled again. Gandalf went to the window and sort of hit whoever it was in the bushes with his staff. Everyone heard a great growl. Gandalf stood back. He then stooped down to pick up whoever or whatever it was that was in the bushes. Everyone gasped for when Gandalf lifted it up it was a big black dog. 

"Ah!" exclaimed Gandalf as he dropped the dog. The dog was big and it was growling showing its teeth. Harry was in shock, that dog was the exact same dog that he had seen practically a month ago. The dog growled then bounded out of Frodo's garden. Then they all heard a yell. Frodo got up and ran to the door yelling, "Sam! Sam?" Everyone else followed. Frodo wrenched open the door and ran outside still calling Sam's name. Harry and the others followed. They all stopped at the door. 

"Help me, Mr. Frodo! Help!" 

Everyone gasped. Sam was on the ground being pinned down by the big black dog. Sam was trying to get up, but the dog was bigger than he was. Frodo ran to his side carrying his walking stick, and with it he started poking at the dog so that it would leave Sam alone. The dog growled menacingly at Frodo. Frodo didn't want to hurt the dog, but…. He grabbed the stick and whacked the dog on his hindquarter. The dog growled even more and tried to grab the walking stick with his jaws. Hermione came rushing down the stairs her wand in her outstretched hand. The dog looked up and saw Hermione. It immediately got off of poor Sam then it turned around and ran towards Frodo's gate. It leaped over the fence and once on the other side it turned around and gave a final growl, baring all its teeth. Then it ran off into the night. 

Harry and the others ran over to Sam's side, who was being helped up by Frodo. Sam was gasping for air. 

"Are you alright, Sam?" asked Frodo as he let Sam rest in a nearby garden bench. 

"Yea, I'm alright, Mr. Frodo. Thank you for saving me."

"Actually Sam it is Hermione here that you should be thanking," said Frodo turning around to Hermione, " she was the real hero, er, heroine tonight." Hermione smiled and blushed. 

"Yes, she was," muttered Gandalf thoughtfully. Then he focused his attention to Sam. " And what in heavens name were you doing out here, Samwise Gamgee?" Sam looked up at Gandalf guiltily. "Um…" 

"You wouldn't happen to be eavesdropping would you?" 

"I haven't been dropping no eaves, sir honest (lol i love that line)**. Well, no except I heard Ms. Granger, here, scream some time ago and I came over to find out what was going on. Then I looked at Mr. Frodo's bushes under the window there and I thought to myself, oh those bushes need to be trimmed. So I began cutting the bushes with my shears. I started at the front and then as I was getting closer to the window that was when you came out of the window and pulled up that devil of a dog out of the bushes. He growled and then came after me so I decided to run for it. And…"**

"And you were eavesdropping", said Hermione her arms crossed. Sam looked at her and then at all the other faces. 

"Alright I was eavesdropping but only for a little while. And then that dog attacked me and…" 

Gandalf held up his hand. He looked dangerously at Sam. Sam began to tremble. "Well, as you probably know Samwise, eavesdropping is not a very good thing to do now is it?" Sam shook his head. "And such actions should be punished, am I right?" Sam shook his head, but then Gandalf gave him that cold look and Sam immediately nodded his head. "I thought you would agree with me, so for your punishment and I have a feeling you already know enough to understand, you will be accompanying Frodo and the wizards on their little trip. Understand!" Sam gulped and nodded again furiously. Gandalf smiled and said, "Good, now that we are all organized we must get going!"

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

They trudged on foot into the nearby woods by the Shire. Gandalf led the way constantly on the look out for any sign of anyone. It was early dawn and not many people were around, in fact hardly anyone at all. The sky was just turning an early morning orange. It was a bit chilly, Hermione's teeth kept on chattering. Before they had left Hermione had cast a new spell upon the house so that everything would be put back in order. It was the spell of Ordium. She had said it right before they had left Bag End. And all the furniture put themselves back as they were. Frodo had been very grateful and so had Gandalf for he was in a hurry. They reached a little glen in the woods, Gandalf stopped and looked at them. 

"Now remember, the enemy had many spies birds, beasts. Is it safe?" he asked looking at Frodo. Frodo looked up at Gandalf and put his hand over his pocket, which was near his heart. Gandalf knelt down and looked at Frodo intently. 

"Never put it on for the agents of the Dark Lord will be drawn to its power." He then bade farewell to everyone else and got on his horse and with a "Ya!" he was gone. 

Frodo turned around and looked at his friends. He sighed. "Well, best be off then." He started heading in the direction of the cornfields. 

"Frodo?" asked Malfoy. Frodo turned around. " Aren't we supposed to be going the other way?"

"No Draco, it is toward the East that we must travel, that is where Bree lies," answered Frodo. He turned and was about to continue his walk when Malfoy once again interrupted. "Well, I mean Hobbiton is that way and don't we need horses? Or ponies? I mean you don't really think we are going to _walk_ all the way." He gave a hollow laugh. Frodo looked at him. Malfoy's face fell. "Oh no, you really do plan to walk don't you? But, but can't we get at least two ponies these packs are heavy and, and…"

"Shut up Malfoy and quit complaining. My gosh you would think that you have never done work in your life before," said Ron. Malfoy frowned. 

"What's the matter, Malfoy afraid you are going to pass out after 30 minutes of walking?" asked Harry "Afraid of a little manual work, huh?" 

Malfoy went over to Harry until he was face to face with him. Then he spat in Harry's face. Harry growled and took off his glasses and slowly wiped them off. Then he placed them back on his head and shook his head with a slight smile then jumped on Malfoy. They rolled down on the ground punching and scratching each other. 

"Harry, stop it!" exclaimed Hermione. Frodo and Sam had been walking ahead apparently getting sick of Malfoy's complaints when they heard the fighting and went back to the little glen. 

"Harry, STOP!" exclaimed Hermione. "Get 'em Harry, punch him in the nose for me! Come on Harry!" cheered Ron. Hermione turned to Ron. "Ron, you aren't helping!" Ron shrugged and continued to cheer Harry on. Hermione just rolled her eyes. Then Frodo and Sam arrived, and Frodo grabbed Malfoy by the back of his robe. Sam grabbed Harry by his cloak and had to literally wrench Harry off of Malfoy. Malfoy had a black eye on his left eye and Harry had a bloody nose. They both looked at each other and it seemed that they were still trying to fight each other with their eyes. The two hobbits let go of Harry and Malfoy. Malfoy wiped away some blood from a cut on his lip. 

"Ok let's make something perfectly clear, okay? The only reason you are coming along is because there was nowhere else to leave you guys and because I am a nice caring hobbit. But if you guys are going to behave like this the whole entire time then I suggest that you shut your traps and keep off of each other." Frodo was furious. Harry nodded, but Malfoy snorted. Frodo turned on Malfoy. 

"What the hell are you going to do to us, huh throw a rock at us?" Malfoy started to laugh real hard. Frodo went over to him until he was directly inline with Malfoy's eyes. Malfoy stopped laughing and stared at him. 

"Do you have something to say to me, shrimp?" 

"Yeah, actually I do," answered Frodo. He then took off his pack and said, " Happy Birthday. All right everyone, Ron, Hermione, and Sam give your packs to Harry and Ron. As punishment you guys will have to carry not only your packs but our packs as well. How you going to do that I have no earthly idea, but since Mr.Malfoy seems to have a smart attitude he might be smart enough to figure it out. And you won't get to have anything to have any dinner." 

Malfoy crossed his arms and said, " I won't do it." Harry went over to Malfoy and whispered, "Don't make it worse than it already is." Frodo walked over to Harry and Malfoy who were standing beside each other and he said, " Alright if you want it that way fine." He looked down and gave a mischevious grin for in a blink of an eye he had snatched both Harry's and Malfoy's wands from their pockets. "Hey!" both Harry and Malfoy exclaimed. "If you don't do as I tell you than you won't get these back." Frodo smiled and held the wands away from Harry and Malfoy. Harry and Malfoy looked at one another then they both bent down, grumbling, they somehow managed to get the two extra packs onto their backs and they continued to trudge on. By nightfall they were tired and sore. Not to mention hungry. When they reached their campsite Frodo made Harry and Malfoy gather the firewood and start a fire, without their wands. Once they finally did Harry and Malfoy had to watch everyone else eat some nice juicy sausages. Sam then took out a flute he had carried along with him and began to play. Frodo then took up Hermione and they began to dance around the campfire. Ron looked on while still munching on some sausage. Harry and Malfoy watched. Afterwards Frodo sent them all to bed. 

Later on that night Harry woke up. He felt someone at his side. He slowly opened one eye to see who it was. It was Frodo he was standing up looking up at the moon. Then he went over to a nearby log and sat down, still staring at the moon. Harry got up and put away the blanket that had been lying on him and walked over to where Frodo was sitting. 

"You should get some sleep," said Frodo without turning around to see who it was. 

"I can't sleep", said Harry coming up behind Frodo. Frodo kept his steady gaze at the nightsky. "That makes two of us", he answered. "It is strange Harry, to think that the fate of your whole entire world lies in your hands, literally." Frodo turned around and showed Harry the Ring lying in his outstretched hand. Harry looked at the Ring and then back up at Frodo. Frodo was looking into Harry's face with what seemed to be concern. "Harry, what is the matter?" Harry looked a bit aghast at what had just been asked of him. "Nothing", he answered,"why do you ask?"

Frodo turned around on the log and faced the horizon again. "Oh is is just something that Gandalf said. He told me to take care of you guys, naturally. But he gave me specific instructions to keep an eye out for you. So I figured if there is something wrong, Harry, you would tell me and make my job of watching you easier." Frodo turned around to look at Harry again. Harry looked at Frodo. "So, is there something that you wish to tell me, Harry?" asked Frodo. Harry's mind drifted to just last year when Albus Dumbledore had asked him the exact same question when the whole thing about the Chamber of Secrets was going on. Harry remembered his last response and then he remembered that night when Gandalf had left. When he had bent down to pick up the Ring and how his scar had begun to hurt. "Harry?" Harry was snapped back into reality. He looked at Frodo and shook his head, " No, there is nothing", he answered. Frodo nodded solemnly and said, "You look tired you better get some sleep."

"Alright, good night Frodo" said Harry as he went back to the place where he had been sleeping. "Good night", answered Frodo. 


	9. The Biggest Mistake

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D/N: I don't own anything! 

Author's Note: You know I do my best thinking in school either at the library or here in the computer lab. K thanks for the reviews chants Only 6 more days till LOTR premiere EEEEEEEEK!

Ch. 9 The Biggest Mistake

**There was a knock at the door. **

"Come in", said a voice from inside.

Professor McGonagall entered the room. She silently closed the door behind her. "Ah, hello, Professor McGonagall I have been meaning to speak to you", said Professor Dumbledore from his desk. Professor McGonagall looked around the office nervously. She seemed to be expecting something to pop out at her from the walls. 

"Albus, it has been", she began. "Would you like to have a seat, Minerva?" interrupted Dumbledore extending his hand to one of the two empty chairs in front of his desk. Professor McGonagall took a seat and she continued, "Albus, it has been exactly a day since young Potter and his friends have left for Middle-Earth. In Middle-Earth it has been a whole entire month! Have you not gotten any word from Saruman? I mean Harry, when he went into the chimney he said the words "Middle-Earth" not Isengard. I know it was my responsibility to tell him to be more specific, but I completely forgot while I was consoling Ms. Granger. And now I am afraid that poor Harry and the others are lost in the unknown world. And what if, if…" 

Professor McGonagall stopped and began to rub her forehead. All this time, Professor Dumbledore had been listening patiently. He now looked at her with a smile on his face. He got up from his desk and walked around it. Professor McGonagall had not looked up while Dumbledore had gone around his desk. He sat down in the other chair and took Professor McGonagall's hand into his own and began to stroke it gently with his thumb. Professor McGonagall looked up and stared at Dumbledore. 

"Do not blame yourself, Minerva. It is not your fault. It is no one's fault. You know as well as I do that in Middle-Earth if Harry said the country's name he and his friends would have landed up almost anywhere. Let's just hope that he landed among friends. Now, as for my cousin Saruman, he has indeed sent me a message. It came early this morning telling me that everything was perfectly fine and that Harry is having tons of fun. Of course, my cousin has never been a very good liar; at least, he hasn't gotten anything by me, yet. You see, Minerva if Harry had in reality arrived at my cousin's home, he and the others would have arrived with him. Therefore, Saruman would have sent them all back. But this letter that he sent me, has obviously proven otherwise. I am pretty sure that Saruman is looking for Harry at this very moment even as we speak."

"So what do you plan to do Albus? You can't just leave them out there all by themselves. They will surely not survive." Professor McGonagall was looking very stressed out. Her usually tight bun was not too tight today, as if she hadn't had enough time to make sure every little strand of hair was not sticking out. Today there were a couple of stray hairs that stuck out from her head making her look like she had just woken up. Dumbledore by this time had let go of Professor McGonagall's hand and was now looking at an open book on his desk. His eyes darted back and forth from one side of the page to the other. His brow furrowed as he read on. Professor McGonagall, not wanting to interrupt, looked at Dumbledore. She was sure that him not answering her question was for a good reason. She looked from his concentrating face to the book that lay open. After about five minutes the great grandfather clock from behind Dumbledore's desk chimed 12, noon. It was time to eat lunch. 

"Albus, I am sorry to interrupt, but we must get down to the Great Hall. Lunch will be served any minute." Dumbledore looked up from the pages for the first time. McGonagall could see concern written all over his face. She furrowed her eyebrows with concern. "What is it, Albus?" she asked. Dumbledore looked deeply into her eyes and said, "Ah, Minerva I think I have made the biggest mistake in my life. I have put young Harry and his friends in terrible danger." 

"What do you mean, Albus? It is not your fault that Harry said Middle-Earth instead of Isengard." Professor McGonagall was trying hard to figure out what on earth the headmaster was saying. Dumbledore looked back hurriedly at the open book. He flipped through its pages. 

"Albus, what is wrong? Please, can't you tell me?" asked Professor McGonagall. She began to get her worries back. Dumbledore looked up from the book. "It is far too complicated to explain, Minerva. But one thing is perfectly clear." He paused as if trying to pick out his words. McGonagall leaned forward in her seat with anticipation. "Yes, Albus?" 

Dumbledore lifted his head and said slowly, " That Harry and the others might need our help." He then quickly closed the books and swiftly made his way to the door. Professor McGonagall took the chance to look at the title of the book. She frowned. What did this all mean? Dumbledore called to her and she left the office. Fawkes, the phoniex flew over to the desk and stared at the closed book. The title read, The Lord of the Rings; The Fellowship of the Ring. Fawkes then flew away from Dumbledore's desk and onto the globe. His tail feathers knocked over the book. The booked opened to the page that Dumbledore had finished reading. The chapter was called The Council of Elrond.(author's note shall explain at the end of the story) 

*~*~*~

The wind blew strongly. The beating of the horse's hooves on the ground seemed to fill the air. Gandalf rode on toward a tall tower off in the distance. His mind was crowded with questions and puzzles. His only answer lied in that tower. After a couple more minutes his steed, Shadowfax, had borne him to the tower, which had seemed so far away. Gandalf rode through the gates of Isengard. He rode all the way up to the entrance of the tall tower. At the entrance of the tower, waiting for him was a figure all clad in white. Gandalf got off his horse and bowed his head as the figure came up to him. 

"Gandalf, my old friend, what urgency you ride here to me. Tell me what is troubling you." 

"Saruman, I have indeed come here with great haste to seek your council and wisdom", answered Gandalf. 

"Ah, I see," said Saruman, "come lets take a little walk, shall we?" He extended his arm in the direction of the grounds. Gandalf nodded. 

Once in the garden their conversation continued. "So it is true, then the Ring of Power has been found", said Saruman. 

"Yes, Saruman all these long years it has been in the Shire. Under my very nose in fact." Saruman then stopped and looked at Gandalf. 

"Your love of the halflings has clearly slowed your mind", said Saruman coldly. "Now tell me, Gandalf, is there something that you would wish to tell me?" 

Gandalf looked at Saruman, one eyebrow cocked. "No", he replied. 

"Are you sure?" asked Saruman. Gandalf nodded, until it hit him. " Oh actually, now that you mention it there is another thing that I would wish to discuss with you." 

"Oh, over what matter?" asked Saruman. 

"You see a month ago, this is going to sound strange, I was at the Shire." 

"Well, how can that sound strange you only visit the Shire practically every chance that you can", said Saruman. 

"Oh well no, that is not the part that is strange. What is strange was what happened in the Shire while I was there. You see it was my dear friend's birthday and I was inside his home. When suddenly out of nowhere, from his chimney rolled out four children. There were three boys and one girl. They said that they were from this place called Great Britain. One of the boys identified himself as Harry Potter. He said that his headmaster, I cannot recall the name, had sent him here. He said that he was looking for you. He was supposed to be sent to you. I wasn't exactly sure what to make out of it." 

"I see and did this boy tell you why he was to be sent to me?" asked Saruman. 

"Um, yes he spoke of being taken here to Middle-Earth to be safe from a murderer that was coming to kill him," answered Gandalf. Saruman looked at him. He was clearly aware of this Harry Potter. " Well, what did you do with him?" he commanded. 

"I told them that I would gladly take them to Isengard, whenever I had the chance. Of course, I couldn't take them that very night for it was my dear friend's birthday. So I decided to wait. Then that night I became aware that the Ring in my friend's possession had gotten him acting strange. So I made my decision to go to the White City to prove my theories. There I found out more information about the One Ring. Fearing the worst I came back to the Shire and told Frodo what was to be done. Then I realized that I had to go and see you for council. So I…"

"WHAT DOES THIS HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE BOY? I ASKED YOU TO TELL ME WHAT YOU HAD DONE WITH HIM, NOT TO GIVE ME YOUR WHOLE LIFE'S STORY! NOW TELL ME RIGHT NOW, WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE BOY!" screamed Saruman (obviously, hint the capitalized words.)

Gandalf stood there in shock staring at Saruman. Saruman was looking somewhat taller than he was usually. His fists were clenched as well as his jaw. His eyes had a fire kindling inside of them. Then, as if regaining his composure, Saruman calmed down and seemed to shrink. Gandalf stared at him. 

"I am sorry, Gandalf, I-I have been having a terrible day. You see the dealings with Harry Potter are true. My cousin did send me the boy for his own protection from a criminal. And you see it has been nearly a month now and I have looked everywhere looking for the boy for he did not arrive the day he was suppose to. So when I heard that you were riding towards Isengard I could only hope that with you was some form of news over his whereabouts. But you say there were four of them, my cousin was only suppose to send me him and him alone. But then again my cousin might have changed his mind. But I am sorry for yelling at you like that, my old friend." 

Gandalf accepted his apology although he was still not over the shock. 

"So about the Ring, Saruman we still have time to counter Sauron if we act quickly," said Gandalf trying to get back to the matter at hand. 

"Time? What time do you think we have?" asked Saruman. " And besides in the end, Gandalf, what did you do with young Potter?" 

"Well, what do you mean we don't have time left? I would think we would have plenty of time to prepare ourselves for this upcoming war." 

"Answer my question, Gandalf what did you do with the Potter boy?" asked Saruman losing his patience. 

"Harry? Why I left him with Frodo. Why do you continue to speak of him when there are far more important issues to discuss? Saruman if you say we don't have anymore time then why do you insist on going back to the subject of Harry?" Gandalf was bewildered at how much his master had changed since his last visit to Isengard. 

"So he is still in the Shire. That will do and in the care of a hobbit, even better." Saruman muttered under his breath. Gandalf could not hear what Saruman was saying. "Now as for the issue about the Ring, let me show you something Gandalf." 

"Sauron has regained much of his former strength. His great eye sits in a fortress ever watchful for the Ring. He is calling all evil to him as he builds an army that will soon be large enough to assault all of Middle-Earth." Saruman and Gandalf were now inside Isengard in one of the many chambers. Gandalf was taking in this new information with fear and disbelief. 

"You know all this, how?" he asked. Saruman grinned maliciously and said, " I have seen it." 

Gandalf then realized that Saruman must have a Palantir, a seeing stone that allows one to see all things. 

"A Palantir is a dangerous tool, Saruman", said Gandalf coming over to the pedastel on which the seeing stone was placed. 

"Why? Why should we fear to use it?" asked Saruman who then uncovered the cloak. 

"They are not all accounted for, the lost seeing stones, we may not know who else could be watching", said Gandalf. He then took the cloak from Saruman and placed it over the Palantir. 

"The hour is later than you think. Sauron's forces are already moving. The Nine have left Minas Morgul." Saruman looked at Gandalf with an evil grin. Gandalf looked at Saruman with disbelief. "The Nine?" he asked. 

"They cross the river Isen, on midsummer's eve dressed as riders in black," continued Saruman. 

"They have reached the Shire!" exclaimed Gandalf. 

"They will find the Ring, and kill the one who carries it."

"Frodo!" exclaimed Gandalf as he turned to leave. Then the door closed as well as all the other doors leading out of the chamber. 

"You did not honestly think that a hobbit could contend with the will of Sauron? There are none who can. Against the power of Mordor there can be no victory. That is why we must join with him, Gandalf. It will be wise my friend." 

Gandalf turned around and looked at Saruman finally understanding everything. 

"Once Sauron has taken over all of Middle Earth then we can make our move. We can trick him to make him trust us and then that would be the time to attack him." 

"Are you mad Saruman how can you even think of attacking Sauron?" exclaimed Gandalf. 

"Of course, not by ourselves are we to be able to accomplish this. Of course not you fool. We shall use the young Potter boy", growled Saruman. 

"Harry? What does Harry have to do with any of this Saruman?" asked Gandalf. 

"Has the boy ever told you his story? How he got that scar of his. You do realize Gandalf that young Harry Potter is famous in his world for that scar. Young Harry when he was only a year old defeated the greatest dark wizard that their world has ever seen. He tried to kill him, but for some reason the curse backfired and now the dark lord, Voldemort, is no longer strong. He is weak and what did he do to young Harry? He survived with only a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead." 

"Yes, Harry has told me his story. How he became known as the boy who lived. But what does this have anything to do with Sauron?" asked Gandalf although he already knew the answer. 

"Gandalf, you fool, don't you see? If we can have that power that the young Potter boy possesses then we could be undefeatable. We could get rid of Sauron and then have Middle-Earth for ourselves. We could make into the way we always wanted for it to be. If we can learn somehow to drain that boy from his power no one could stop us!" Saruman said all of this like he had gone mad. He laughed cruelly. He stopped and looked at Gandalf. " It would be the right thing to do my friend." 

"Tell me friend, since when did Saruman the Wise abandon reason for madness!" replied Gandalf. 

Saruman had obviously had enough and he used his staff to blow Gandalf off his feet and press him against the wall. Gandalf broke free and attacked Saruman with his own staff. The battle raged on for a couple of minutes in which they were both tossed and turned all over the place. Saruman then held out his hand and took away Gandalf's staff from him. Now weaponless Gandalf looked on. Saruman threw him down to the floor and began to make him spin as he used both staffs. 

"I gave you the chance, Gandalf but you have chosen the way of pain!" exclaimed Saruman as he lifted Gandalf up from the ground until he was taken to the top of the tower of Isengard. 

After a while Gandalf opened his eyes. He looked around him. Something had woken him up. He was on the top of Isengard with no way to get down. He looked around him. It seemed that Saruman had already begun to work on his plan of conquering the world. Down below a bunch of orcs were tearing down the trees and beginning to make dig mines. Gandalf groaned. How on earth was he suppose to warn Frodo. Suddenly out of no where he saw Saruman appear. 

"Finally, awake Gandalf? I am actually very surprised that you have slept for so long." 

"Why how long has it been since I kicked your ass?" asked Gandalf with a smile. 

Saruman growled, "If I were you I would shut my trap if I knew what was best for me!" Then he smiled. " I know what you are thinking. But you would be too late. I learned from a very valuable source that you are to meet your friends in the village of Bree." 

Gandalf froze. "Ah, I see that my information is true", sneered Saruman. 

"Well, what good will that do to you, Saruman? You are not about to send one of your filthy hosts of orcs into the village of Bree. That is madness. The men of Bree may not be warriors, but they will be prepared to take down a host of orcs. They will hunt them down even after they have invaded the village." 

"Oh but I do not plan to send forth a host of goblins. No, I have plans to do it in secrecy." 

"Oh, really? Well exactly how do you plan to do that then?" asked Gandalf with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. 

Saruman growled again. Then he smiled evilly and said, " I have my ways." 

He then called to someone in a strange tongue. From out of nowhere a raven came down from the sky and landed close by to Saruman. And to Gandalf's surprise it changed its form into what looked like to be a man with a hooded cloak. Gandalf gaped at the man. The man smiled. He looked exactly like a man, but Gandalf knew what is it was. A shape-shifter. Saruman smiled wickedly as if he was proud that he had such a person working by his side. "Soren, please take a good look at Gandalf we won't want any mistakes now would we?" Soren the shape-shifter smiled. Gandalf stared at him. 

"You don't actually think that he can pass himself off as me?" asked Gandalf. "Frodo has known me all of his life there is no possible way that he will be tricked by this imposter!" 

"Well, we shall see." Then turning to Soren Saruman asked, " How soon can you leave?" 

"Immediately", answered Soren his voice was rough and rather hoarse. Saruman nodded and added, " Remember bring me the Ring, and kill the Ring bearer if you must, but try not to attract too much attention to yourself alright? Oh and bring the Potter boy unharmed. Is that clear?" 

"Crystal, my lord" answered Soren. And with that he suddenly changed into an eagle. With one whoosh from his wings he was off in the western direction. Saruman smiled at Gandalf. "Well, now that that is taken care of I must return to business." He held on to his staff and sinked into the ground. Gandalf stared at the place where Saruman had once stood. 

"SARUMAN!" he screamed. 

Author's Note: Now about the whole Council of Elrond thing, at first I thought that the chapter was called the Treason of Isengard because that is one of the title's for the soundtrack. But I went back to my book for reference and it turns out that there is no such chapter called The Treason of Isengard. So I searched to find the place where it explained about Saruman betraying Gandalf and everyone else and it was in the council of Elrond so just so that I can be correct with the book. k that is all I hope u liked it! ;)


	10. The Black Riders

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D/N: I don't own anything except for the little changes in the plot that I have been making and my characters. Sigh well Christmas vacation is over and I got to see the TTT very good movie! Um sorry for the delay of not updating I had writer's block and I had no time to type anything. As to the Shadowfax thing that someone mentioned in one of their reviews( sorry I am too lazy to back and see who wrote it plus I can't connect to fanfiction from school) I really don't know about that. I know in the TTT that Shadowfax comes after that and everything and in the movie of the Fellowship it was a brown horse. I don't know and like I said I am going strictly with the movie while making some changes u know and I thought for sure that he rode Shadowfax in the book. Well you know. And to another reviewer that pointed out the fact that it was thirteen years between Bilbo's party and when Gandalf found out about the Ring. I knew that it took Gandalf longer than just a month. I know but I couldn't really keep Harry and the others in Middle-Earth for 13 yrs. I mean then they would be……26 and that wouldn't do. So you know. Ok I think everything is cleared up. 

Ch. 10 The Black Riders

Frodo managed to get out of the cornfields. The day was bright and sunny. He had been thinking about how he expected Bree to look like, he had never gone to a Big Folk town before, his thoughts were interrupted by Sam's cries. 

"Mr. Frodo? Frodo! Frodo!" 

Frodo turned around and went back down the path. He rounded a corner and came face to face with Sam. Sam looked relieved to see him. 

"Oh thought I lost you", said Sam with a sigh. 

"What are you talking about", asked Frodo. 

"It's just something Gandalf said to me."

"What did he say?" 

"Don't you loose him Samwise Gamgee and I don't mean to."

"Sam we're still in the Shire what can possibly happen?" Then all of a sudden Frodo froze and looked around. "Speaking about losing people, Sam where are the wizards?" 

Sam stopped dead and looked around as well. "I thought they were with you up ahead." 

"And I thought they were with you! Oh crap now what! Sam I told you to look after them!" exclaimed Frodo. 

"Hey it is not entirely not my fault, Mr. Frodo you had to watch them too!" 

"I know I know. Ugh and they were my responsibility too!" Frodo began to curse under his breath. Sam just stood there looking at him shaking his head. 

"Well don't just stand there come on we have to go and find them" exclaimed Frodo. Sam nodded and he and Frodo disappeared into the rows of corn stalks once more. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~

__

Meanwhile…..

"Damn it Weasley if you hadn't stopped for a bathroom break then we wouldn't be lost!" screamed Malfoy looking furious. 

"Hey I had to go," snapped Ron. 

"Ugh, where is Hermione?" asked Harry looking around. "She was suppose to run up ahead and tell Frodo and Sam that we had stopped. 

"Didn't you go before we left Bag End?" asked Malfoy still looking angrily at Ron. 

"No because I didn't need to go then." 

"Couldn't you just have held it in?" asked Hermione's voice from somewhere behind them. They all turned around. Hermione came up along the path and then stopped. " You are finished right Ron?" They all nodded. Hermione continued up the path. 

"Hey when you got to go you got to go", said Ron. 

"Well, Hermione did you catch up with Frodo and Sam?" asked Harry. 

"No, I couldn't find them. The path leads right into a cornfield", she answered sitting down on a tree stump. 

"Well why didn't you go in?" asked Ron.

"I can't, it's private property and you know that Frodo would never go in there", said Hermione. 

"How do you know that Frodo hadn't gone in there? That is probably where they are. That's why I couldn't see them when I climbed the tree to look around. They are too short and the corn stalks hide them from view." Harry said. 

"Well now what?" exclaimed Malfoy kicking a rock. 

"I suppose we will have to wait until they return for us", said Hermione calmly and confidently. 

"Oh god! We are going to be here, forever!" complained Malfoy. 

Harry sat down on an upturned root. He was watching the little ants on the trunk marching up and down. Suddenly he heard something. It was sort of like a high-pitched scream from a bat or something. 

"Did you hear that?" he asked them. 

"Hear what?" asked Hermione. 

"That noise", answered Harry getting up and looking around straining his ears. 

"Oh don't tell me Potter you hear another snake?" said Malfoy. 

"No, it's not like a snake. It's like a cry or a scream. It doesn't sound human or animal like." 

"Maybe it's a bird", suggested Ron. 

"A bird is an animal, Ron", said Hermione. 

"Oh yeah."

Harry got up and began to climb the tree straining his ears to see if he could hear the sound again. There. There it was again. He looked down. Hermione and Ron were trying to listen. Even Malfoy was trying to hear the noise. Harry continued to climb the tree. What was that sound? He went up as high as he could climb and looked over at the landscape. Nothing. He could see a little road down below them. They were on a hill at the moment. Harry squinted looking around. Suddenly he heard Hermione scream down below. 

"Hermione!" yelled Harry. He climbed down the tree as best as he could. On the last branch Harry pulled out his wand from his pocket and jumped down holding his wand out in front of him. He was met by laughter. Ron and Malfoy were laughing hard. Hermione was looking furiously at a laughing Pippin who was patting Merry on the back. 

"That wasn't very funny!" Hermione said. 

"Sure it was," answered Merry, "you should have seen your face!" He pointed and laughed. Hermione grew red. 

"What did you do?" asked Harry.

"Hermione was walking by the field and Pippin literally jumped on her and pinned her to the ground. It was hilarious you would have laughed Harry", said Ron. Hermione looked deadly by now. Everyone stopped.

"Whew, so what are you guys doing here anyways?" asked Pippin. 

"Oh we are leaving with Frodo for Br-oof" Ron has just gotten his foot stamped on by Hermione. "I mean we are here with Frodo," he managed. 

"Yes and we kind of got separated," continued Hermione. 

"Oh don't worry, we passed Sam in the cornfields back there, so I'm sure Frodo can't be too far behind," said Merry. And right on cue Frodo and Sam sprung out of the fields. They were both red in the face as if they had been running. Frodo took one look at them all and exclaimed," Run!" He and Sam ran past them. Everyone stood there for a minute, confused, when all of a sudden they heard yelling and dogs barking. Merry and Pippin looked at each other and they pushed Hermione and Harry forward. Ron and Malfoy followed. They kept on running till they saw in front of them that Frodo and Sam had stopped. Harry stopped and so did Hermione. Somehow Ron and Malfoy had gotten in front of Merry and Pippin, and they stopped as well pushing the group a little further off the hill. Frodo almost lost his balance. Sam caught him just in time. 

"Take that and that!" They heard behind them and then all of a sudden Merry came into view. Seeing the big group he stopped. Then Pippin came and he was looking back at the dogs. He turned around and gasped. "Ack, no brakes, no brakes!" he yelled waving his arms around wildly (don't ask I just thought I had to put that line in there it just seemed so appropriate). He bumped into them. They all fell tumbling down and down the hill until they reached the bottom where they landed on top of one another. This was painful. There were plenty of ows and bad words being said from everyone, the majority coming from Frodo since he was at the bottom of the pile. 

"Oh that was close."

"Get off me!" 

"Ow you are stepping on my hair!" 

"Careful you'll break my glass- too late" 

"Oops sorry, ack alright ouch"

After a few minutes they were all up rubbing their bruises. Malfoy's hair was all messed up. Hermione got up and immediately smoothed down her skirt for it had bended up from the fall. Harry looked around and picked up his glasses. They had been cracked by the grace of Pippin. Merry pulled out a broken carrot from under his back. Frodo managed to get up and stop muttering something about having a stupid brainless hobbit for a cousin. Ron was laughing. Pippin got up and smiled at the pile of manure that he had just nearly missed when he had fallen. 

"Oh that was great!" exclaimed Malfoy smoothing back his hair, or at least trying to. "Good job Baggins you just won the gold as being the stupidest shrimp in all of whatever the hell you call this place!"

"It's not Frodo's fault, it's…" began Hermione, she looked over at Pippin who was looking dejected. "It was an accident!" 

Malfoy rolled his eyes. Harry walked up to Hermione holding his glasses in front of him. "Um, Hermione can you…" 

"Sure Harry _Oculus Raparo,"_ she said. 

Harry's glasses were immediately fixed; all of the hobbits' eyes were wide open as they saw him put his repaired glasses back on the bridge of his nose. "Thanks."

"Hey look over there", said Ron. He drew everyone's attention to where he was pointing. 

"MUSHROOMS!" exclaimed Merry and Pippin at the same time. They ran over to where the mushrooms lay, followed closely behind by Sam. Harry noticed that Frodo hadn't gone over for the mushrooms instead he looked like he was listening for something. Harry suddenly remembered about that uncanny screaming sound that he had heard. He too stopped and strained his ears once more. He saw that Frodo was looking down the road. Harry followed his gaze. 

A sort of whispering was at his ear. He turned around, but everyone else was busy. Hermione and Malfoy were having another argument and Ron and the other hobbits had their attention focused on the mushrooms. The whispering in his ear grew; it was like a mosquito murmuring in his ear. He looked down the road. Suddenly the noise increased until he recognized the same screams this time extremely loud and close. The autumn leaves blew across the dirt road as Harry realized that whoever or whatever it was that was screaming they were coming closer. 

"Get off the road, quick!" exclaimed Frodo breaking Harry's attention. Everyone did as he told them to do. They went over to the side of the road and hid underneath the roots of a tree. They sat there all huddled up. It went Frodo, Harry, Pippin, Hermione, Ron, Merry, Sam, and Malfoy. That was how they were all sitting under there. (I know I know the possibility that everyone could fit underneath that little hollow is kind of ridiculous, well the hollow is a lot bigger now so yea let's just use our I-ma-gi-na-tion) Harry felt a shiver go up and down his spine. Suddenly his scar began to hurt and he felt cold, real cold. He had felt this before. He started breathing heavily it was too hot yet he was cold. He clasped his hand on his scar wincing in pain. His head was swimming he didn't feel like he was on the ground anymore. He was falling, falling. Deeper and deeper…

*~*~*~*~*~*~

Pippin sat there underneath the little hollow. His breath came out short and he felt a strange evil presence coming towards them. He glanced over at Hermione she seemed to be scared half to death and was trying to listen hard. He looked over at Harry and saw that he was sort of hugging himself with his arms. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was in great pain. Past Harry he could see Frodo, Frodo was no worse than Harry. They both seemed to have the same expressions on their faces. Frodo was fiddling around with something in his fingers. Then there was the sound of hooves coming from above. Pippin could hear a horse breathing above him. He gulped. What was going on? He heard something else moving, it sounded as though somone or something had just dismouted the horse. Then he heard the noise of hard cold armor clenching the root of the tree. Pippin shivered. Below him on the ground the earthworms were coming out from the soil and were beginning to crawl on his feet. Whoever it was that was looking for them began to make a queer sound. It sounded like he was sniffing for something. Pippin turned to look at Frodo again. Frodo continued to shudder and shake. What on earth was wrong with him? The sniffing continued. Pippin stretched his arm out across Harry and put his hand on Frodo's arm. "Keep it together, Frodo!" Pippin thought. As soon as Pippin's hand touched him Frodo opened his eyes and stopped shaking. The sniffing from above stopped. Pippin withdrew his arm. As it went passed Harry, Pippin was startled and gave a yelp. 

"REEEEEK!" screamed the thing from above. "Run!" yelled Merry as he ran forward from their hiding spot. Everyone else got up and ran. Pippin's heart was pounding inside his chest. He couldn't understand what he had just seen. He had no time to think further for when he looked up he saw a rider all dressed in black. His head was hooded so that he couldn't see the face and he was holding out a sword. He felt someone grabbing onto his robes. It was Merry. "Come on! Move it!" urged Merry. The rider gave one last scream and then got onto his horse. "Oh, SHIT!" cursed Merry and Pippin at the same time. Then they both turned and ran. Pippin's head was swimming he kept on stumbling on the leaves and twigs on the forest floor. The Black Rider screamed again from behind and they heard the clapping of hooves as it chased after them. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Frodo felt dizzy. He felt like the world had suddenly turned upside down or like he had just woken up from a nightmare. But now he was fully awake and he was running with Sam and Ron at his side. He looked over his shoulder and saw a hooded rider all dressed in black riding after them on an evil looking black steed. 

"Split up!" he heard Merry yell in front of them. 

Frodo ran to the right along with Sam. Ron had run over to the left. Before long they had no idea where they were going and the Black Rider was still after them. 

"Hurry, Mr. Frodo!" puffed Sam as they ran deeper and deeper into the wood. Looking around Frodo saw a place where there was a lot of foilage and he directed Sam toward it. His plan was that maybe the Black Rider's horse wouldn't be able to get through all the bushes and brambles. Bending his head low he and Sam dove into the bushes and began to crawl. Sharp thorns tore at his cloak and scratched up his face, arms, and legs. 

"REEEK!" screamed the Black Rider from behind. The two hobbits stopped and looked back. 

"I think we lost him," sighed Sam. The suddenly they heard a slashing sound. The Rider had a sword. "You spoke too soon, Sam", said Frodo as they continued to crawl out of the brush and bramble. The Black Rider was smarter than he looked, for immediately out of nowhere he blocked their way from leaving the bushes. He then raised his sword and began to stab at the bushes hoping that in one of those blows he would get the two hobbits. During all this time Frodo heard a nasty whispering noise in the back of his head telling him to put on the Ring. Frodo merely shook his head and focused on dodging the thorns and the ever-stabbing sword. 

"Help!" yelled Frodo as he realized that they were trapped. Right on cue he heard Hermione's voice yell, "_Incendio_!" Then before his eyes the thorn bushes in front of him went up in flames and then simply disappeared. He and Sam squirmed out through the opening and ran for their lives. The Rider screamed another one of his unnatural-can-wake-up-the-dead screams. He then quickly got back onto his horse and charged at the two retreating hobbits. 

Frodo looked back to see that they weren't going to make it the Rider was just too close. Suddenly he tripped (go figure) and fell over an overturned root bringing down Sam with him. They hastily turned around and saw that the Black Rider was nearly on top of them. It checked its horse and held out an armored hand. "_The Ring_", it whispered holding out his hand to Frodo. Frodo looked up at it, his eyes wide with fright. Then the horse reared up causing the Black Rider to fall off. "REEEK!" it screamed as he fell down. 

"Yeah and there is plenty more where that came from!" yelled Merry's voice. Frodo looked up to see that Merry and Pippin were up in a tree with a good supply of stones in their bags. Frodo and Sam got up and ran off past Ron and Hermione who were pointing their wands to the Black Rider. They were in a sort of glen surrounded by large boulders and there was only two ways out. Hermione and Ron were at one of the entrances. 

"Accio, sword!" commanded Ron. And to Frodo's surprise the Black Rider's sword, who by now had gotten to his feet, flew from his hands and went to Ron. Ron caught it by the handle, but fell down from its weight. "Oof!" 

"You better run for it, Frodo," said Hermione her eyes still fixed on the Rider. "It's after you." 

Frodo nodded and he and Sam raced off into the opposite direction. Suddenly they met up wit Draco. His face was red and his wand was out. He looked scared and baffled. 

"Where's Potter?" he asked. Frodo and Sam looked at one another. Then they heard Hermione scream from behind them. They all turned around. 

"They're in trouble! We got to help them!" said Frodo and he began to run toward them, but Sam held him back. 

"No, Mr. Frodo, Hermione's right it's you that devil wants. You better go and hide we will go and help them." said Sam bravely, but Frodo could see that his lip was trembling. 

Sam looked at Draco and they both nodded and headed off to where Hermione's scream had been heard. Frodo felt terrible. He wanted to help out his friends, but yet if he got caught... Frodo didn't know what to do,but decided to go around to the other side of that little place that they had been at and see if his companions where all right. All he had to do was stay out of sight. 

Frodo made his way quietly hobbit-like making no noise around the little glen like area in which they had been. There around he found a couple of large boulders. He decided that if he saw that they were all fine he would return here to hide. He climbed over the boulders and saw to his horror that Hermione and Ron were lying on the ground. They looked stunned. Then close by he saw the crumpled figures of Merry and Pippin. Not far away Draco and Sam were approaching the Rider. The Rider was on his own two feet and holding out his arms, the horse was nowhere to be seen. Sam was trying to drag Hermione away from the Rider. Draco had his wand held out in front of him. Suddenly he bellowed, "_Rictusempra_!" and the Black Rider went flying into the air and hit a boulder. Then Draco helped Sam to drag Ron and Hermione away. 

Suddenly Frodo was attacked from behind as he felt someone grab his cloak and bring him down to the ground. "Argh!" he screamed as pain shot all along his left leg. His leg had been underneath him during his fall. Suddenly he could feel hands groping at him as if they were searching for something. "No!" screamed Frodo and he and his attacker began to wrestle. They were all on top of one another and Frodo couldn't see anything of his attacker. They punched and kicked on the ground. Then his attacker managed to get Frodo on his back and pin him down. Frodo looked up into a shadowed face for he too was wearing a hood. In his hand the attacker held a dagger. He held it high in the air. Frodo struggled he was too heavy. Then "_Flipendo_!" The figure on top of him flew off and hit rock. He groaned loudly. Frodo looked up to see Harry standing there his arm outstretched wand in hand. Harry then rolled his eyes backwards and fainted to the ground. Frodo gaped and got up, pain shot up through his leg and he collapsed to the floor. 

"Argh!" Frodo felt his leg it didn't seem broken. Maybe it was his ankle. He started to massage his ankle. It was swollen. Frodo then crawled over to Harry grimacing in pain as his sprained ankle touched the ground. He reached Harry and turned him on his back so that he was facing up. He seemed to be knocked out unconscious. His glasses were lying on the floor and they were scratched. Frodo looked over to where his attacker had been. He was gone. Frodo returned to Harry. Then on the other side of the boulders he heard growling. Frodo tried to get up, but there was no way his ankle was swollen and it hurt every time he put weight on it. Then he heard the sound of the Black Rider screaming once again. There was a lot of commotion on the other side. He heard Draco's screams along with Sam yelling. It sounded like they were arguing. The Black Rider let out a long shriek and then all was silent and still. Frodo held in his breath not knowing what might be coming. Then he heard the distinct voice of Malfoy fill the air. "_Incendio_!" Then there was such a screaming sound that Frodo's ears were ringing. 

Then he heard the sound of retreating feet followed by a loud groan that sounded like Sam. Then he heard Draco's voice following the retreating steps of the Rider. 

"Oh yeah, who kicked your ass? Huh, who kicked your ass! Yeah!" 

Frodo smiled to himself and then called to them. Sam was the first to appear from behind the boulders. He looked wary, but he bent down close to Frodo and looked over at Harry in horror. 

"Mr. Frodo are you all right? What happened I heard you scream, but then I was trying to keep young Draco from getting himself killed and so I-I" 

"Sam it's all right I am fine! Well actually I am not, but take care of Harry first! I think he is unconscious!" exclaimed Frodo. Sam went over to Harry, he touched his forehead. 

"He's going cold", said Sam. Then from around the corner Draco appeared. Behind him the limp bodies of Hermione, Ron, Merry and Pippin followed him. Sam yelled startled. Frodo just stared.

"It's all right it's just a spell", said Draco as he waved his wand and they all crumpled down to the floor. 

Later on Frodo, Sam and Draco had managed to get the others inside a sort of cave. They had a fire roaring in front of them.It was night time and the moon shone brightly from the sky. The forest seemed eerily quiet, but yet gave them a sort of comfort for their ears were still ringing from the screams of the Black Rider. Draco was going on in details about how he dramatically had beat the Black Rider.He spoke of the big black dog and how it had come at his summoning so that while the dog distracted the rider, he would hit him square in the chest. According to Sam when they had arrived at the scene all of them were lying on the floor. Frodo then told his story about how he was attacked and everything. After a couple of hours of staying watch it was Frodo's turn again. Draco had told him about giving the victims something called chocolate. He produced it from his backpack in the shape of a frog. At first Sam and Frodo were astonished to see that the frog actually moved, but they got used to it by the third frog. Sitting by the fire now listening to everyone sleep peacefully, Frodo hummed to himself a song that his uncle Bilbo had taught him. He looked over at the still figure of Harry. His scar was beginning to glow a strange orange color. Immediately Frodo got up and looked around, but there was nothing to be seen. He glanced back at Harry's scar, it had returned to normal. This had happened about three times before that night and all during his watch. Frodo took it as a warning that something was approaching. Sitting back down quietly Frodo was swept into happy dreams. 

As he nodded off a shadow figure moved from his hiding place by the tree and crept over to the group. It bent low over Frodo, smiling. He then scanned the rest of the group and jogged back into the shelter of the woods. Leaving no tracks on the forest floor. 


	11. Ch 11 Questions and Concerns

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D/N: I don't own anything. Oh and by the way thank you for telling me about that mistake that was in my last chapter. Hehehe I guess I wasn't thinking at the time oh well. Sorry I haven't updated in a LONG time. 

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Ch. 11 Questions and Concerns

**Frodo woke up the next morning, feeling a bit dizzy. At first he closed his eyes hoping against hope that everything had only been a dream. He opened one eye and sighed. Nope, everything had been real. The sun's rays spread its warmth across his face. The birds were singing in the treetops and through the branches Frodo could see patches of blue sky. He sighed again deeply and his hand curled around the Ring dangling from the golden chain at his neck. He grasped it and held it close to his heart. He turned around to see Sam stretching and getting up. **

"Good morning, Sam", greeted Frodo smiling at his best friend's attempts to try to get up unto his feet. 

"Good morning, Mr. Frodo, how is your ankle doing?" **asked Sam. **

"Oh I completely forgot about it!" Frodo bent down to examine his ankle. To his surprise it wasn't swollen any more. "Well that's good", he thought to himself. He felt his ankle up and down. He felt no pain. "I wonder", he muttered. He tried to lift himself up. 

"No, Mr. Frodo, you shouldn't try to walk yet!" exclaimed Sam running over to Frodo's side ready to catch him at any time in case he fell. Frodo, ignoring Sam, got up to his feet. He didn't feel a hot surge of pain as he did this. He walked around a little bit, first taking a few cautious steps then walking around like he would normally. Nothing, once again there was no pain. Frodo looked down at his feet and made a little hop. Then he began to jump all around looking like he was playing hop-scotch. Finally to really make sure that his ankle was perfectly sound, Frodo danced a step that he had danced at Bilbo's party.(and no it's not the chicken dance) It was a difficult one with plenty of jumps, kicks, and a couple of twirls. When he finished he looked over at Sam who by now looked like he had just seen a ghost. 

"I don't understand," said Frodo, sitting back down. 

"It's a miracle!" exclaimed Sam. 

"No Sam it doesn't make any sense, I mean how can an ankle heal that fast?" 

"Don't look at me, I am just your gardener", said Sam beginning to rummage through his pack in search of breakfast. "Like I said Mr. Frodo it's a miracle."

"What's a miracle?" asked a voice from behind them. Frodo and Sam turned around to find that Harry and Ron were awake. Yawning, Harry repeated his question, "What's a miracle?" 

"Mr. Frodo's ankle has been cured!" exclaimed Sam. Frodo explained to Harry and Ron what had happened. "Are you feeling all right Harry I mean you fainted after you defeated my attacker?" asked Frodo suddenly looking a little worried. 

"I'm all right I don't even remember that I did anything like that. Wait I attacked who?" said Harry confused. 

"You helped me. You see this man attacked me and I could do nothing to stop him because I had hurt my ankle. Then he began to grope at me for the Ring, I suppose, on my chain. Then with your wand you made fly off and hit a rock."

"Oh," said Harry still confused. He scratched his head. 

"What exactly had you done to your ankle, Frodo? Did you break it, did you sprain it or what?" asked Ron. 

"I believe I sprained my ankle, but this morning I tried it out and it is all better. It is perfectly healed. I mean nothing; no pain no sign that I had done anything to it." 

"That sounds like magic to me", concluded Harry. He looked over at Ron, who nodded in agreement. 

"Yeah, any wizard in our world could have healed your ankle, er, well any wizard who knew the right spell that is." 

"But who? None of you even knew that I had gotten hurt, except…" Frodo stopped and he looked over at the sleeping figure of Malfoy on the ground. "Draco", he ended. 

Ron started to laugh. Harry smiled and he too joined in with Ron. 

"No there is no way that Malfoy could have healed your ankle. I mean look at him!" said Ron pointing. 

They all turned to look at Draco who was lying on his side. Suddenly he made a small snorting sound and a little bit of drool came driveling down his face. The hobbits wrinkled their noses in disgust. Harry and Ron just laughed. 

"Well, then if it wasn't Draco then who could have healed my ankle?" asked Frodo a little frustrated at this. 

"I got it!" exclaimed Sam so loudly that he made everyone jump. Also causing Merry and Malfoy to get up and rub their eyes staring stupidly around them. " I know how come Mr. Frodo's ankle is all better now", he paused letting the tension "sink in". 

"Well?" asked Ron. 

"It has to be elf magic!" concluded Sam as he stared around at them like he had just answered them what color the sky was. Frodo, Ron and Harry all gave him blank expressions. "Don't you see we have an elf guardian watching over us?" 

"An elf what!" exclaimed Malfoy from the ground rather pissed that Sam had woken him up. "What the bloody hell is going on here?" 

Frodo and the others all started to explain to Malfoy about what had happened before. Merry looked impressed. Frodo asked Malfoy if he had healed his ankle. 

"Hell no! I don't even like you, so why the hell would I want to heal your freakin' ankle?" exclaimed Malfoy still pissed. "Besides I don't even know what spell I could have used to do it." 

"Watch your mouth there Malfoy!" exclaimed Sam. 

"Let it go Sam, don't waste your time", said Frodo coldly. 

"If you excuse me, nature calls", said Ron as he hurriedly made his way behind a couple of bushes. Harry watched him leave and then turned around to the others. They woke up Hermione and Pippin. Just as they were about to serve their breakfast, sausages and dry bread, they heard a yell from the forest. 

"Ron!" exclaimed Harry. 

He and the others got up quickly and went to the spot where they had seen Ron disappear. Stumbling through the brush Harry spotted Ron first. Ron was on hands and knees, crawling around on the forest floor. 

His face was pale and worrisome. 

"Ron, are you alright?" asked Harry glad to see his friend all in one piece. 

Ron looked up at Harry, his face deadly white. "It's Scabbers!" 

"Who?" asked Merry scratching his head. "Scabbers, my pet rat, he's gone. I can't find him!" Ron raised his hands in the air. 

"Well when was the last time you saw him?" asked Hermione trying to keep Ron calm. 

"Before we were attacked by that Black Rider, I had been feeding him when we were still walking by the corn field." Ron looked extremely worried. He turned around and frantically scanned the ground. 

"I'm sure he is fine, Ron", said Frodo going over to him and placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Ron turned around to face Frodo. "But what if he is hurt, or he fell out of my pocket or worse yet something ate him!"

"Then, good for the animal that ate him. You just supplied someone with breakfast, Weasley. You should be happy." Malfoy smirked. Ron turned furiously at him. His face held an expression of compressed anger. "You will pay for what you said, Malfoy" exclaimed Ron. Before anyone could stop him, Ron had flung himself at Malfoy, fists held high in the air, and began to pound him to the ground. Surprised Malfoy hit the ground hard and held up his arms to defend himself from the redhead's vicious blows. 

It took the force of Frodo, Merry, Sam, and Harry to wrench Ron away from Malfoy. Holding him back, Frodo yelled at Ron to stay calm. Pippin and Hermione helped Malfoy up to his feet. Malfoy had a black eye and he was massaging his arm. Being used to having his two bodyguards to defend him Malfoy hadn't done much to defend himself, but he had managed to punch Ron in the face, leaving Ron with a cut lip. 

"Stop it both of you! Ron calm down, I am sure Malfoy didn't mean it. Come now we'll all help find Scabbers. Alright just calm down, punching Malfoy is not going to get you any closer into finding your pet." Frodo tried to reason with Ron. Ron calmed down a bit, but he still scowled at Malfoy. 

Frodo suggested that they all split up in groups of two to search for the missing rodent. They all searched for nearly an hour and a half. They found nothing. Ron was completely loosing it. He tried to fight back tears, but it was too much. He let the tears come freely down his cheeks. Harry and Hermione tried to comfort him, but nothing they said made him feel any better. Merry looked up at the sky, the sun was already shining high above them. It was getting late. Frodo, realizing this too, told everyone to pack up because it was time to go. Once again he apologized for the loss of Scabbers to Ron. Ron didn't feel like hearing any of it, although he had stopped crying his face held a frown and his eyes were still red. 

By this time Frodo had let Merry and Pippin in on what was going on. Merry nodded as Frodo finished. 

"It seems to me that the quickest way to Bree is to go by Buckleberry Ferry, come on follow me!" 

*~*~*~*~

Frodo and the others now soaking wet made their way across the dirt road toward the wooden fence guarding the entrance to the town of Bree. It was raining down on them and it had been for a little more than an hour. Trying to avoid stepping into the puddles the hobbits and wizards made their way up to the doorway. Frodo knocked on the door to the entrance of Bree. There was a little eye-viewing window on the top part of the door slightly higher than Frodo's head. A hooded, old man opened the window took a quick peek and went down to the next window below it. He opened it and growled, "What do you want?" 

"We're heading for the Prancing Pony", answered Frodo blinking away water droplets from his face. 

The old man opened the door and held up a lantern in order to see the rest of the company. "Hobbits, four hobbits, and hello what's this children, and human children at that! What does a company of travelers like this want here in Bree?" 

"We wish to stay at the inn, our business is our own", replied Frodo firmly. 

The old man nodded and said, "Alright young fellow I meant no offense, it's my job to ask questions after dark you know. There is talk of strange folk abroad, can't be too careful." Frodo and the others entered through the wooden door. Thunder rumbled overhead. The rain continued to pound down on the ground. 

Once pretty much into the town, Frodo kept a wary eye on the children especially Harry. He and the others stopped under the shelter of a roof as they squinted to see past the curtain of rain. Looking over at the other hobbits, Frodo beckoned for them to get closer. They did and he whispered, "I don't like the look of this place. I have decided that each of us must look after one of the wizards. No matter what happens you must always stay with that wizard. Agreed?" 

All the hobbits nodded in agreement. "Right then, Sam I want you to take care of Hermione. Pippin you are to take care of Ron, and Merry you get Draco. As for me I will get Harry." All the hobbits nodded once again. 

"Look I see it!" Hermione was pointing a little ways forward. There they all turned to see a small sign with a reared up horse. Underneath the wooden sign was the words "Prancing Pony". Frodo smiled as he thought about how his adventure had come to an end. Inside there would be Gandalf ready to receive the Ring and everything would be fine. But right now he was too tired to think anymore. He was tired, hungry and thirsty and in great need for a comfortable bed. 

He and the others made their way to the inn, careful to get out of the way of the passing Big Folk. In entering the inn, Harry was greeted by the smell of beer and freshly baked bread. He had been expecting seeing an environment somewhat like the Leaky Cauldron back in London. The environment was completely different than that of the Leaky Cauldron. Here there were no friendly greetings and warm pleasant faces. Instead he and the others were greeted by suspicious glances and whispers. Frodo and the others all looked around. The air seemed to be hazy with all the smoke that was swirling in the air. In front of them was a front desk. Frodo turned to the others. Merry nodded him on as they all waited patiently for their natural leader to go up and take charge. 

Frodo sighed and went up to the desk. He was just tall enough so that his eyes were level to the counter itself. "Um, excuse me", he said as he stood on tiptoe to see over the counter. 

A burly man stepped up from somewhere behind. He wore a pleasant yet stressed face. His face was that of a busy man. He wore a little chef's hat and held in his two hands a mug and a rag. Looking over he saw Frodo and a welcoming smile spread across his face. 

"I am guessing that you must be Mr. ..." he leaned in closer so that his nose almost touched Frodo's, "Baggins?" 

Frodo looked at him hard and long and finally nodded slowly. The man behind the counter smiled pleasantly. "He has been expecting you. Oh, dear me where is my manners? My name is Mr. Butterbur, the innkeeper to this modest little place." 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Butterbur", answered Frodo politely. "Excuse me, but who has been expecting us, would it be Gandalf, the Grey?" 

"Why of course! He just came in, he went into a private room for a little bit of rest. He wished for me to be on the lookout for a special company of travelers and that to report them directly to him as soon as they had arrived. So here you are. Would you wish to go to him?" Mr. Butterbur looked at everyone with a happy smile. 

Frodo turned to his companions, even though they were extremely exhausted, he was dying to see Gandalf. Everyone else nodded their agreement. Frodo turned and nodded at Mr. Butterbur. 

"Alright then, I will have someone to take you to where he is accommodated. As well as get you anything to eat or drink. Nob!" Mr. Butterbur turned toward what Harry could only guess was the kitchen. Then from out of the kitchen door came out a young hobbit lad a little younger than Pippin probably carrying a tray filled with dirty dishes. His face held an expression of guilt. Harry noticed that several of the glasses on the tray were broken and that one of the hobbit's hands was cut. Mr. Butterbur chose to ignore the guilty look on his employee's face and instead told him to take this noble company of good travelers to the sitting room. The young hobbit nodded in agreement and indicated for them to follow him. They did and in doing so he led them to a separate part of the inn, almost an entirely new building. Nob explained that this side of the inn was for special gatherings and also where the nice rooms were located at. 

Harry noticed that Frodo had a light spring to his step now. "Maybe it was the thought of seeing Gandalf again that encouraged him", he thought to himself. Nob led them down a hallway where many other doors led off to different other regions of the inn. Nob stopped by two big oak doors. He gently knocked. A gruff "Come in" answered from inside. Harry's heart gave a slight leap as he realized that he too was eager to see Gandalf. Nob opened one of the doors. A warm fire light greeted the tired company along with the smell of pipe weed. 

"Would you need anything else?" asked Nob. During all this time he had been still holding his tray with the broken glasses. 

"Yes a couple of drinks would be nice", said Merry looking eagerly inside the room. 

"Will do", answered Nob and with a slight bow he left the room. 

Frodo and the others turned and entered the warm welcoming room. There seated in an armchair facing the fire was the familiar figure of Gandalf. Frodo's heart was filled with excitement. Gandalf turned towards them and smiled. Frodo made his way to him ready to embrace him. Gandalf slowly got up from his chair and held out his arms ready to receive the hobbit's greeting. But then Frodo sort of stopped half way. It was as if he had run into an invisible wall yet there was no wall there. Something had stopped him, but he couldn't figure out what. His brief pause lasted only for a couple of seconds so no one really noticed. Frodo continued to give Gandalf a hug. 

"Oh, Frodo, my boy I am so proud. You made it!" Gandalf seemed to be bursting with joy. 

"Gandalf it is so good to see you", said Frodo uneasily. They broke their hug and looked at each other. Frodo stared into Gandalf's eyes. Something was not right; it was as if something in the air didn't feel right. Gandalf looked back at Frodo. He opened his mouth to say something, but then he was surrounded by the rest of the travelers. They all greeted him with happiness and relief, all except Malfoy who stood back. 

"I never should have doubted you, Mr. Gandalf, sir", said Sam. Gandalf smiled warmly at Sam. "You actually had the wit of doubting me, Master Gamgee?" Sam smiled sheepishly. Everyone took turns to hug the wizard, but when it came for Harry to greet him, Harry paused for a minute, just like Frodo. Harry looked at Gandalf and for some weird reason he felt uncomfortable. "This is strange," he thought, "why on earth should I feel uncomfortable with him? I hadn't felt this feeling before." 

"Harry, what is the matter, it's me Gandalf", said Gandalf looking at him with concern. Harry smiled weakly and said, "Sorry Gandalf, I just can't believe to see a familiar face." Gandalf smiled at this and embraced Harry. Frodo watched thoughtfully still trying to figure out what had stopped him from giving Gandalf a hug. Something didn't feel right. 

"Well enough of this, tell me of what has happened since I left you", said Gandalf sitting back down on the ground. Everyone else sat around him and told them about their story everyone that is except for Frodo, Harry and Malfoy who chose not to take part in the explanation. Halfway through the story Nob came back in with the drinks for the weary travelers. Gandalf asked for Nob to tell Mr. Butterbur to find some accommodations for the travelers. Nob did as he was told and the story continued. 

"Tell us Gandalf of what has happened with you", said Hermione sipping her mug of milk. 

"Yes please", everyone said. Gandalf sat back in his chair as he smoked his pipe. He nodded and began. 

"You see after I left you, Frodo, I went to go visit the head of my council, Saruman the White. I rode off to Isengard as fast as I could eager to hear his wise words. Once there he greeted me like the old friends that we are. I told him all the information that I had gathered and he told me that the best thing to do was to bring all of you to Isengard as soon as possible. Once there you would all be safe from harm and these evil Black Riders, of whom you speak. Once there Ron, Hermione, and Draco will be sent home immediately. And as for Harry…" he turned and stared at Harry, "he will stay there until it is perfectly safe to return to your own world." 

Harry stared hard at Gandalf. Gandalf continued to stare at Harry and finally grinned. "Alright it is getting late, everyone off to bed we are leaving first thing in the morning. So you must all get plenty of sleep. Maybe before you turn in for bed you should get a bite to eat." 

A little later, the company was sitting at a table in the main part of the inn again. Barely able to keep their eyes open they were busy finishing the last of their supper. 

"That fellow has been nothing but staring at us since we arrived", observed Sam indicating a hooded man in the corner of the inn. Harry and Frodo both turned around nonchalantly to see. The man sat in his corner smoking his pipe. 

"Maybe he is looking at what an odd company we are", suggested Frodo. He merely shrugged at Sam's look of "I don't think so". 

Harry sat on the edge of the table, beside him sat Ron. Ron and Pippin together got up to go and get another drink. At this moment Hermione scooted over on the bench so that she was right beside Harry. 

"Harry, I don't like this. I don't like this at all." She had said this very low almost to the point were you could barely hear it. 

"What don't you like Hermione?" Harry inquired. 

"This whole place I don't know if you have noticed Harry, but I have seen many men whispering to one another and pointing at us. Then there is that man in the corner. Did you hear Sam? He has been doing nothing, but staring at us since we arrived. It's true I've been watching him. Then there is Gandalf…" 

She was forced to stop for Ron and Pippin returned with newly filled mugs. Hermione's last sentence gave something for Harry to think about. So it wasn't just him, at least one of the others felt that something was different about Gandalf. He looked over at Frodo and noticed that he had been watching him and Hermione talk. Catching his eye, Frodo returned to his beer. "I wonder if Frodo suspects something?" Harry thought to himself. 

Later on they all went to bed. They had managed to get two rooms beside each other with four beds in each room. Frodo did the sleeping arrangements. Merry, Pippin, Ron, and Malfoy were to all sleep in one room, while Harry, Sam, Hermione, and he were to accommodate the other one. As they were getting ready to sleep Harry and Hermione chose the two beds closest to one another so that they could continue their conversation. But as soon as Harry laid his head on his pillow he was drifted off to another land of dreams. "Oh well", he thought as he let himself be taken away, "we can figure it out in the morning." 

Hermione on the other hand was far too busy thinking to be bothered with sleeping. She ran the facts over in her head, as she lay there in her bed. From her left she could hear Harry breathing peacefully and knew that he was asleep. She couldn't help it, she needed to know. "I'll let him rest for a little while and then I'll ask him", she thought to herself as she turned over on her side and closed her eyes. She was not to open them again for another three hours. 


	12. Surprises and Shocks

D/N: I don't own anything.  
Ch. 12 Surprises and Shocks  
Hermione woke up three hours later. She wasn't quite sure how she had managed to awaken but she had all the same. She sat up in bed her fingers delicately putting her few strands of hair behind her ears. She sat up and looked around. The one candle that they had left glowing in the dark had been blown out and everything was pitch dark.  
  
Suddenly Hermione heard someone outside the door. Instinctively she went back down on her bed pretending to be asleep. The door opened and through half-closed eyes she saw Gandalf's tall figure standing at the doorway. He held a lantern in his right hand and with it he began to scan the room. Hermione closed her eyes, her heart beating fast, as the beam passed over her. She opened them again as she watched the beam rest on Frodo. Then she heard Gandalf take a few steps closer to where she was. Her heart beat even faster. "Why am I so nervous?" she thought to herself. Gandalf stopped in front of Harry's bed. Hermione watched s he took out from his robes a pouch. He untied it and stuck his hand inside. Then he made a motion with his fingers as if he was sprinkling something on top of Harry's head. Then Gandalf uncovered Harry and picked him up. He placed his limp body over his shoulder and walked off to the other side of the room to Frodo's bed. Hermione gasped as she watched Gandalf pull out a dagger from his robes and lift it gingerly over Frodo's sleep figure. "No!" she exclaimed jumping out of bed. Gandalf was startled and he glared at her. Frodo woke up immediately and he quickly got out of bed before Gandalf could strike at him. "Gandalf, what do you think you are doing?" asked Sam. He was up and out of bed standing by his master's side. Gandalf did not answer but instead he tried another lunge for Frodo with the dagger. He missed by a couple of centimeters. Growling with rage Gandalf set Harry down on the bed beside him and held up the dagger. Hermione whipped out her wand. She pointed it at Gandalf and boomed, " Rictusempra!" It his Gandalf full blast on the chest, which caused him to crash against the wall, causing a shelf to fall on top of him. The dagger had fallen out of his hands. "Sam, quickly pick up Harry and let's get out of here!" commanded Frodo. Sam went to the bed where Harry lay and he picked him up holding him in the same position that Gandalf had and went through the door. He then turned around to see if the others had followed. Hermione went after Sam, but stopped and turned. Frodo was bending over Gandalf's limp body. "Frodo! What are you doing?" she whispered through clenched teeth. "It's all right I'm just grabbing his dagger so he won't be able to attack us again," replied Frodo. Frodo reached for the dagger never taking his eyes off Gandalf's face. He was centimeters away when the Ring hung down from his shirt. For a split second Frodo looked down to see it and then that was when Frodo's wrist was no longer free. Gandalf had grabbed a hold of Frodo's wrist. "Ah!" yelled Frodo in surprise as well as in fright. Hermione screamed out his name behind him. Frodo struggled but the wizard's grip on him was too strong. Frodo tried to reach for the dagger with his left hand, but he found that he was being lifted up into the air! Gandalf had gotten a hold of his neck with his left hand and was slowly lifting him off the ground. He stopped to where Frodo's face was level with his. For now Gandalf was standing up tall. Hermione screamed again and held up her wand. In the blink of an eye Gandalf had unsheathed his own sword with his right hand, having let go of Frodo's wrist, and was holding it up inches away from Frodo's neck. "Don't you even think of striking at me again with that wand of yours, or I will slice the Ringbearer's head off his shoulders before you could breathe a word." Hermione lowered her wand. What else could she do? She knew for certain that Gandalf wasn't lying and that she was literally helpless. Frodo continued to kick but Gandalf was holding him far from his body. Hermione noticed that Frodo's kicks were growing weaker. She stole a quick glance at the door. She saw Ron, Malfoy, and the other hobbits looking in not daring to move. Gandalf had seen them and he was very well aware that they could do nothing. His lips curled into a smile. "Now then I will spare young Mr. Baggins' life only if you give me back Potter." Hermione glanced quickly at Sam, who was still holding a sleeping Harry. That powder must have been enchanted or something and had caused Harry to fall into a deep sleep. "Don't do it Sam! Don't do it!" choked Frodo from the man's grip. Hermione looked over from Harry to Frodo. What was to be done? If Sam were to do as the man said then they would loose Harry. But if he didn't. Hermione racked her brains to try to think of a possible solution. But nothing came to her mind that could help. "I wish the real Gandalf were here," she thought.  
  
Suddenly to her right there came a sound of shattering glass. Everyone looked over to see what it was. A hooded man stood up quickly and threw a dagger at Gandalf's left hand. It struck him at the wrist. Gandalf howled with pain as he dropped Frodo and his sword. Frodo crumpled to the ground gasping for breath. Gandalf growled as he took out the dagger. At that moment he grabbed his sword and was ready to stab at Frodo, but then Frodo disappeared. Gandalf stood in shock for a split second before he was back to conscience and blocked a blow that the hooded man had delivered to him with his own sword. Hermione just stared in complete shock. She couldn't move. She watched as the two men, the hooded man now with his hood off, fought with their swords viciously. "We shouldn't linger here", said Frodo's voice at her ear. She gave a yelp and turned around to see no one there. "It's all right, Hermione. It's me I put on the Ring that's all. Come on let's get out of here!" Hermione nodded at the air and she felt a cold hand hold her own and lead her off toward the exit. Ron and Merry were busy trying to wake Harry up. Frodo became visible again and he told them all to get out. Suddenly Harry began to scream from the floor. "No, no leave her alone. Hurry run they're coming!" And with that everyone could here the all too familiar screams of the Black Riders. "Oh shit!" cursed Malfoy. "Hurry everyone downstairs!" screamed Frodo. Behind them they heard a roar. Looking back in the room Hermione saw the man that had saved them standing in front of a large cave troll. Gandalf had disappeared. The troll held a mighty club in his hand and was using it to try to hit the man. Hermione recognized the man as being the one that had been watching them. The man grabbed a firebrand from the fireplace and threw it into the monster's eyes. The troll roared in pain and he swiped blindly for the man with his club. The man dodged and headed for the door. Hermione quickly got out of the way as he closed the door behind him. He turned his sweaty face toward her and said, " Hurry everyone outside before they arrive!" Everyone did as they were told. The man took Harry's body from Sam and placed him on his shoulders. Frodo in the lead they went down the stairs to the main bar area of the inn. An extremely frightened Mr. Butterbur blocked their exit. "What is going on? Where are you going with this ranger, Strider?" "Move it Butterbur, if you know what is good for you!" shouted Strider angrily from behind. Mr. Butterbur moved obediently. Frodo opened the door and stepped outside. It was now in the middle of the night and everything was dark. Behind him he heard Ron's voice say, " Lumos." A bright light illuminated the ground in front of him. And there he saw a horse with a small wagon attached to it. "This must be the wagon that the imposter was going to use after getting rid of me", he thought. "Get in, hurry!" commanded Strider. Frodo clambered in. He was quickly followed by everyone else, Strider lay Harry beside Hermione and Ron. Behind them they could hear the screams of the Black Riders coming towards them at full speed. Strider took the reins of the horse and urged it to go. "Are you all right, Mr. Frodo?" asked Sam. Frodo nodded. Their attention then to Harry, he was still asleep but was tossing and turning as if he was having a nightmare. "Harry, please wake up", begged Hermione. Ron shook him, but nothing worked. "Here let me try", said Merry. He stepped in front of Harry and pulled out from Pippin's pocket an old mushroom. He held it up in front of Harry's nose. With a gasp Harry woke up coughing. Everyone was delighted but their happiness didn't last long. The Black Riders were still on their tail and to make matters worse they all heard a crash coming from the inn. The troll had crashed through the wall and was looking down at them. Strider turned around and gasped. With a mighty roar the troll changed in front of their eyes into a giant eagle. With a fierce scream it took to the skies following the pursuit. "Oh shit!" cursed Malfoy again. "Everyone get down!" commanded Strider. The eagle swooped down low, so low in fact that Frodo could see its individual feathers. The eagle and the Black Riders screamed both at the same time. "Faster", yelled Ron. Strider urged the one horse on. The Black Riders were gaining on them. One of them reached out and began to call to Frodo. Ron pulled out his wand and yelled, " Incendio!" The Rider burst into flame and fell off his mount. Hermione held out her wand and aimed carefully at the nearest Rider. " Flipendo!" The Rider flew clear off his horse and landed with a dull thud on the muddy ground. Now there were only two left.  
  
Malfoy held out his wand and pointed it at another Black Rider, but just when he was to utter the spell he felt an intense sharp pain at his shoulders. Beside him he heard Pippin yelp. Then he looked down to see that the ground was growing farther away from under him. The pain at his shoulders increased as he looked up. "Ah!" he screamed as he realized that the giant eagle had taken him. Beside him hung Pippin from the air. He was looking at the ground completely dumbfounded. He turned to Malfoy and they both screamed together, "HELP!!!!"  
  
"Pippin!" yelled Merry as he saw his cousin being lifted away by the great eagle. "Malfoy!" yelled Harry who was by now more or less conscience. Ron and Hermione finished hitting the Black Riders and they both turned their noses skyward as they saw the great eagle fly off with their friends.  
  
"Strider do something", exclaimed Frodo. He looked back up at the sky, but he could no longer see the great bird. "I can't" answered Strider. "What!" "There is nothing we can do, here let us go reach somewhere safe and then we'll plan how to rescue them."  
  
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Malfoy hung limply in the claws of the giant monster of an eagle that had kidnapped him and Pippin. He had stopped trying to struggle free about an hour ago. There was just no sense in it seeing that they were so high up that the trees on the ground looked like little spots. Even if he were to struggle free he would fall down to his death, so there was no sense in it. He would just accomplish getting himself killed and saving the eagle the trouble. The sun was finally beginning to rise up over the horizon. Malfoy looked up at it and squinted. If he had paid attention in Boy Scouts he would figure out that they were heading east. They passed a range of snowy mountains. He looked over to his right and saw that Pippin, the lazy butt, had fallen asleep. "How on earth can he sleep in a time like this?" Malfoy asked himself. Over the mountains they went and then on the other side Malfoy saw a sea of green. It was just a huge expanse of trees. If he had looked at the maps in Bag End he would have known that the mountain range that they had just crossed was that of the Misty Mountains. And now he was looking at the region called Mirkwood Forest. "Where are you taking us?" asked Malfoy looking up at the eagle. To his surprise the eagle spoke. His voice was dark and raspy almost to a croaking sound. "We are heading for an old hideout of mine. From there I will figure out what I am to do with you." Malfoy gulped. "Well at least he is in no hurry to kill us," he thought.  
  
Pippin yawned and looked around. "Hey," he thought ", we are lower to the ground!" In fact they were landing close to the border of Mirkwood Forest. Malfoy had fallen asleep beside him. Pippin yawned again. It seems that he had some what calmed down from that nap that he had just taken. Suddenly he looked down and realized that the ground was a lot closer than it had been in fact. oof!  
  
"Ouch!" Pippin scrambled from the ground and stood up. The great eagle drew in its wings and then changed into a man. He grabbed Malfoy roughly from the ground and tied his hands behind his back, having done that he tied an even longer rope to the knot that he had made around Malfoy's wrists and came close to Pippin. Pippin didn't resist. It was clear that he had to do what the man said for two main reasons. A, he had no idea were he was and "b" because even if he knew where he was it was most unlikely that he could survive by himself. So the man tied his hands around his back like he had done with Malfoy. He tied the longer rope to Pippin's chords and then held the last end in his hand. "Clever", thought Pippin. Then the man tore part the sleeve of his garment and split it in two. He then blindfolded Malfoy and proceeded to do the same with Pippin. Pippin wrinkled his nose at the smell. Then the man gave a thorough search of their garments. He took away Malfoy's wand and Pippin's last supply of good mushrooms. This done he growled at them to follow and walk slowly. So Soren, the shape-shifter, led them into Mirkwood forest. He had been in the wood many times before and he knew of a small cave where he could keep his prisoners until he reported to Saruman. A plan was forming inside his sinister mind he only hoped that Saruman might think it clever as he did. He trudged on into the forest cracking fallen leaves as he went. Once he reached the cave he took off the blindfolds of his prisoners and gave them each something to eat and laid two canteens for them to drink water from. "What do you want with us? And hey give me back my wand!" Malfoy's face was furious. Soren only smiled and waved it in his face. He had left their hands bonded but had mad it so that they weren't behind their backs. He also had bonded their ankles together. "Stay here, you are in the middle of Mirkwood forest, even if you do escape you wouldn't be able to make your way out of the forest, besides there are fouler things in the depths of this forest than I." He cackled ridiculously and headed for the entrance. "Where do you think you are going?" demanded Malfoy. "I must report to my master", croaked Soren and with that he left. Malfoy and Pippin looked at one another and they both sighed. It was going to be a long day. 


End file.
